I've seen artists churn out work to sell, but the quality is lacking. This should not be a surprise when you mass produce anything. Quality suffers. Mediocre is acceptable. If you ask the same artists to create work for a gallery/museum...you would see them approach it completely different. They would take time with the work in pre-production, production, and post-production making sure everything was as close to perfect as possible. They would want the work to represent who they were as an artist. Mediocrity would have no place in such a situation. However, shouldn't we approach all things with same fervor? If our name is on something...shouldn't we attempt to have it be the best it could possibly be? I don't want just certain work to represent what I am capable of doing, but everything I do to be a reflection of who I am as an artist.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24
It is not about trying to impress God. He does not need us acting like a child trying to get there parents' attention (LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!). When we attempt to get his attention by doing something "good" we are approaching the Christian life all wrong. In fact, I'd say we don't truly understand the Christian life. When we come to know the Lord we bring all that we are: the good, the bad, and the ugly. He wants all of who we are. The good we should want to do for God is born from knowing him. It is born from knowing what exactly he has done for us. It is not to get his attention. We have his attention. The Lord of All lives with in us. He is waiting for us to spend time with him. He is waiting for us to speak with him. We have his attention...not because of the great things we can do...but because he loves us & desires a deep/real relationship with us. This is our motivation for wanting to serve God with all that we are...to the best of our ability. When times are tough, when we feel like we are far from God, when our prayers don't seem to be answered the way we expect....continue on in the Lord. Do not lose heart or be deceived by your "feelings". Know that he is with you..he has never left you...and you can continue to go forward trusting him to be the God he has always been & will always be.
I have chosen this as my theme verse for classes this year! I want my students to know that EVERYTHING they do; art, music, science, math, play, etc, should be done for the Lord.
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