Why It's Important to Listen to the Nudge
When God challenges my creativity
Nudge.
Nudge, nudge.
It’s back.
I shake my head and decide to ignore it.
And deep inside me, a tiny portion of my conscience twists, painfully.
The same excuses echo through my mind. It’s fine. You’re imagining things. You’re not hurting anyone.
Except, it’s not fine and I’m not imagining things. And I am hurting someone: Myself.
Christian creatives
I think all Christian creatives come to a point where they have to face the question of whether or not they are using their God-given creativity to honor the One who gave it to them, or if they’re using it purely for their own satisfaction.
As a millennial
I can barely remember a time before the internet permeated daily life. I have had articles, videos, and images thrown at me through nearly the entirety of my existence. These messages shout to the heavens that living to the fullest is about finding what satisfies you.
Find and love your true self is the anthem sung to my generation.
The problem is, if you look for and find your true self, you eventually discover that you are staring into the face of brokenness and destruction. The Bible is pretty clear on this in Jeremiah 17:9.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Now, let me be clear
I am not advocating for any type of self-hatred here. What I am saying is that we are broken vessels. We can’t fulfill ourselves on our own — anything we do, anything we put inside, eventually leaks out. We end up feeling more empty than we did before, because, for a moment, we had a hint of what it feels like to be filled.
Christ’s sacrifice can mend us and make us whole.
But I think the catch for many Christians (especially the younger generations who live and breathe anything digital) is that regardless of your heart-change, there are still reams of articles, videos, and images still being thrown at us that claim to show us how to feel full.
Chase your dream.
Live authentically.
Be your best self.
But now the disconnect is even greater
You have gone through a massive internal shift on account of Jesus’ sacrifice. If you continue to follow these paths without reference to the One who changed your life, you will again eventually find that you feel empty.
Water dries up, after all, even if it sits in a mended vessel.
Every Christian who has been one long enough to determine that there are some things that make them feel spiritually full and others that make them feel spiritually empty comes to this crossroad. But I think it is a very particular and painful crossroad for many Christian creatives.
What do you do when your creative work is not fulfilling you because it is not honoring Him?
Nudge.
Nudge, nudge.
It’s back.
That still, small voice that I know very well and yet still try to brush off as being my imagination.
I know what He wants
He wants me to put the story I’m writing aside, and work on a different novel that He’s brought to mind.
And I am not ready for that. I’ve spent too many years with these characters, and get too many emotional highs off the plot twists and personality clashes. I push onward, putting every ounce of myself into making my story as good as can be. I feel every thrill I can as I write — and reach the end of the day when I find that I feel absolutely gutted.
Empty.
Guilty.
That’s how I know that it’s not fine, I’m not imagining things, and I am very much hurting myself.
I’m not sure everyone has this exact experience
What I am sure of is that God talks to His children. He wants the best for us. If we seek His will or listen to His promptings, He will let us know what we should do — especially when it comes to the gifts He has given us.
I firmly believe that creativity is a gift, one that God wants us to use for His glory and the furthering of His kingdom.
And yet I have misused it so many times.
I first got such a nudge about my stories ten years ago. Do you know how many times I have ignored that nudge and done my own thing? I don’t either. Countless times.
But our God, the ultimate Creator, is the ultimate advisor on creativity
If what I am working on is something He is leading me away from, then it doesn’t matter how many little highs I get from working on it in the interim. It is not profiting me and it certainly will not profit our Christian brothers and sisters or those we wish to reach in His name.
Let me be clear — I am no pinnacle of faith to emulate
I have been through this cycle hundreds of times. But I have learned, while sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing to follow His lead, that I am far more fulfilled when I do.
This story is published in Koinonia — stories by Christians to encourage, entertain, and empower you in your faith, food, fitness, family, and fun.
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