 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
When we read the story of Cain and Abel we learn that God received Abel's offering with gladness but rejected Cain's offering. Many sermons have been preached about how important it is to bring our offering before the Lord with the right heart and right attitude, but have you ever wondered if there is more to understand from that story?
In Genesis 1:29-30 we read the order of provision which God arranged for mankind, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food."
We can conclude that Cain's offering was not accepted by God was because he chose his offering by human understanding, instead of discerning what God had blessed, or most importantly what God had spoken a curse over. Genesis 3:17 gives an important revelation from God regarding the ground and man's labour in it, "cursed in the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it" In bringing the offering he did, Cain denied that he was a sinful creature under the sentence of divine condemnation. He insisted on approaching God on the ground of his own personal worthiness when he offered to God the fruits of the ground which God had cursed.
But Abel understood and by faith was able to apply himself in a more appropriate way, he offered a blood sacrifice, and found acceptance. What is your gifting? And are you applying it with faith in order to produce an acceptable offering? God's favour was on Abel because he offered a more excellent sacrifice, and a reference is made to the firstfruits of his harvest. This communicates that though God is interested in our hearts he also places huge value in our attitude of offering our best back to him, which is why we who are in the arts must always train and develop our gifting, we cannot dress the wonderful message of the gospel in the unsuitable clothing of laziness and an untrained or unprepared craft. God asks for the firstfruits which is the best of the lot - your finest song, dance, piece of writing, choreography or musical! We all must start somewhere and continue to increase and better our ability to be used by God - not because he won't use us otherwise but because we should bring our best the one who gave us his best - his one and only son Jesus!!!!
We are creative beings The Spirit of God leads us to a place where we belong, where we can truly be ourselves: a creative place. We are made in the image of our Creator - so it is in our DNA to be creative. Whether we are artists or administrators - creativity is everywhere! It is like the unseen wind which sends leaves twirling up in the air forming all sorts of shapes and forms. Once we understand this we can be led by the Sprit in every way and so fulfil our potential here on earth. To carry out the Great Commission you need creativity - whenever you consolidate, lead your cell meeting, evangelise or share your testimony you are being creative!
When King David prepared the building plans for the temple in Jerusalem he was inspired by the Spirit who caused him to develop all his capacities to a very high standard. We know David was a great musician and a great man of battle but not much is written on his architectural abilities, yet the Spirit inspired him to maximise his creativity, vision and leadership as he offered his heart to God. We consider David to be great artist, and we can find this kind of devotion and dedication to creativity and its craft all over the history pages of the great practitioners of theatre and art.
Many of the men and women who have developed and shaped much of what we call 'theatre' were people who out of their extreme circumstances and challenges used the craft of performing arts as a tool to communicate a message. Many of their struggles sharpened their ideas and strengthened them in their work in order to present such an excellent product. Great theatre connects with its audience and impacts them in a unique way. I believe that it's wrong to separate skill and excellence of craft from the message or the value of the message. When the tabernacle was built, it was intended to be the best possible dwelling for the Ark of the Covenant. This wasn't a task for unskilled workers, it was for people who had trained in their field.
Ask yourself, 'what is my field?' Do you know your area of expertise and are you bringing your offering before the Lord? We give to the state that which belongs to the state, but are we giving to God what is his? If you dance for the state, do you also dance for God? If you act and perform, as a profession do you also bring the best of your labour and craft unto God?
