Each day you can present your God-given gifts to God as a form of worship.
Whether you know it or not, you are creating some kind of art in your life. Perhaps you paint or sing or dance. Maybe you make up bedtime stories for your children or keep a daily journal or have the entire office laughing at your jokes. Your art could be the meals you make for your family or your ability to style an outfit, or the love you offer in your relationships. Whatever your art is, it can be beautifully used as worship. Rather than make our own assumptions, let’s look at some Scripture to determine if God considers our art as worship.
The Bible Tells Us God is Creative
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)
"How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures." (Psalm 104:24)
"This is what God the Lord says - the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it." (Isaiah 42:5)
"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:3)
We are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), and therefore, we are also creative. Scripture is full of verses about God’s people worshiping Him through their creativity, whether singing, dancing, writing, or building:
"Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with timbrel and harp." (Psalm 149:3)
"Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals." (Psalm 150:3-5)
"This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord." (Psalm 102:18)
"Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded." (Exodus 35:10)
"He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers." (Exodus 35:35)
The Bible Tells Us How to Worship
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." (Romans 12:1)
"God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and truth." (John 4:24)
"Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’" (Luke 4:8)
The Bible also tells us that certain actions may look like worship, but they are not if the heart is not in a place of worship:
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." (Isaiah 29:13)
"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." (Matthew 6:5)
"When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?’ says the Lord. ‘Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and my name is to be feared among the nations.’" (Malachi 1:13-14)
So, armed with that knowledge of Scripture, how do we answer if God considers your art as worship?
The Bible Supplies the Answer
The answer: it depends on your heart.
God will absolutely consider anything you do as worship, so long as you are intentionally doing it as worship. Is your heart focused on God? Are you thanking Him for the gifts He has given you? Are you bringing Him glory by using your skills appropriately, serving Him and others? Each day you can present your God-given gifts to God as a form of worship.
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17)
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:23-24)
"Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Corinthians 15:58)
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." (1 Peter 4:10)
Through prayer, you can present your art to the Lord as a form of worship and ask for His blessing over your works.
"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." (Proverbs 16:3)
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 ESV)
"May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:17)
As you focus on worshiping God, don't compare your art to anyone else. Each of us brings our own creativity into the world as God has designed.
"If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else." (Galatians 6:3-4)
"David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy." (1 Chronicles 15:16 ESV)
"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen." (1 Peter 4:10-11)
An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.” (Luke 9:46-48)
Create.
Work.
Worship.
God is on your side (Psalm 56:9), and He delights in you (Psalm 149:4).
Photo Credit: ©Jonathan Borba/Unsplash
Megan Moore is a military spouse and mom of 3 (through birth and adoption). A speech-language pathologist by training, she now spends her time moving around the country every couple of years. She is passionate about special needs, adoption, and ice cream.
