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Love, Pride, and Creativity

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By Jason Comerford

I was recently reading up on the life of French artist Henri Matisse, and came across these quotes from an article he wrote: 

Creation is the artist’s true function; where there is no creation there is no art. But it would be a mistake to ascribe this creative power to an inborn talent. In art, the genuine creator is not just a gifted being, but a man who has succeeded in arranging for their appointed end a complex of activities, of which the work of art is the outcome. 

[…] Great love is needed to achieve this effect, a love capable of inspiring and sustaining that patient striving towards truth, that glowing warmth and that analytic profundity that accompany the birth of any work of art. But is not love the origin of all creation? (“Is Not Love the Origin of All Creation?”)

For an artist who was cryptic about his religious beliefs, I think that’s a shockingly insightful take on where true creativity comes from: love is not only important, but at the center of it all. 

Paul says something strikingly similar that you might be familiar with: 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. […] 8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (2 Corinthians 13:1-3, 8-13) 

Paul goes a bit further than to simply say that love is at the center of all things, but he draws out the clear implication. Anything without love is useless and very likely harmful.  

It’s something I experienced in my early days as a photographer, and I suspect the experience is common to many beginning artists: the desire to be excellent and attain mastery instantly kills creative effort because it’s typically born out of an insecure need to be someone great and to be admired by others as great. It’s not born of any love or interest in the subject and art itself; it’s born of a paradoxically proud and insecure love for only oneself. I’ve found it to be one of the greatest roadblocks in growing as an artist, and even now I wrestle with it as I try to learn and grow in new ways.  

Pride kills creativity because pride is the opposite of love. 
  

As Elim continues towards its next season, I think it’s important for all of us to seriously pray and think about our reasons for existing as a church. Why are we here? Why are we involved? As we learn alongside a new pastor, forge new ministries, and preach the gospel in Puyallup, why are we doing these things? Do we build because we love? Or do we build to be seen? Is the good of our community our great delight? Or do we seek to prove ourselves against others? Is it our glad honor to be part of spreading the good news of our Lord’s kingdom? Or do we just want a kingdom of comfort here and now, for ourselves? 

These are crucial questions because in no small part, hard days are probably ahead. Some ministries will fail, and other efforts will take much longer to bear fruit than we’d like. If our motivations really are an insecure need to prove ourselves or a selfish need for comfort here and now, we’ll have no tolerance for trying new things, for repenting when we’re wrong, and for growing slowly into the church we would like to be.  

But if love is at the center of it all? We will continue to sacrifice, continue to love our neighbor, and continue to do good even when it’s hard. 

Pray with me, Elim. Pray that our Lord would make us more and more a people of deep, compassionate, generous, longsuffering love. Other matters of discipline and ministry style are certainly important—but none so much as us actually loving our God and actually loving our neighbors. 

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Legacy Insurance

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By Dan Amos

Once again, Fran and I have been hard at work deconstructing the accumulated stuff of our parents. We have made a couple of trips across the mountains and need to make a couple more to finish preparing for sale the home of 40+ years and to move a loved one to a new state and a new living situation. We have dispersed thousands of pounds of things and collected boxes of records and memorabilia. I have taken on the task of scanning the documents to share with siblings as arrangements are made. They document the legacy of their lives and some of how they have impacted others.

Among the documents are a history of multiple life insurance policies. As I’ve thought about it, most insurance is intended to restore things to how they were before a loss occurred. A life cannot be restored by a policy; it can only soften the physical hardship for those left behind. It is a part of our legacy, what we leave behind as the evidence of our lives. Larry wrote a few weeks ago about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem walls.  He related the effort to Elim’s need to rebuild. The walls were the legacy of Nehemiah and the other families. Our legacies are similar in what we leave behind.

In Nehemiah 3, families are named along with the part of the walls and gates they rebuilt. That is a fairly serious passage since if a part of the wall failed, everyone would know who was responsible. Our families haven’t built any walls or gates; we’re neither captains of industry nor political leaders. But as I looked at pictures of people gathered to celebrate retirement, I saw the legacy of relationships that were built. I’ve repeated several times to my mother that her legacy is wrapped up in three children who are married and are all believers. I have three children, and they are married and are all believers. That is a legacy worth celebrating.

To make it a legacy, though, it has to be something that is passed on. It doesn’t count if it is only momentary—it has to last. In Nehemiah 9, the Israelites gathered together, confessed their sins, and heard the Book of the Law read to them. This was an act of renewing the legacy of their ancestors, hearing the history of their people and their relationship with God. They then claimed that relationship as their own, renewing the legacy we benefit from today.

As we move forward and (hopefully) welcome a new pastor and throw off the bondage of COVID, we will rebuild. Our prospective pastor, Ryan, mentioned several times the legacy of being a community of believers for 137 years. Many lives have been influenced by the ministry of Elim’s people, and if we are to leave a legacy it needs to be a strong foundation of building lives and sharing the good news of our Rock, Jesus Christ.

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Dwelling in the Shelter of the Most High

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By Beth White

One thing the Lord has been at work teaching me over the past two years is that I can trust his word absolutely. Psalm 9:10 declares, “Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”

The Bible often talks about seeking safety from the troubles of the world in a fortress. We choose which fortress we dwell in: it can be God Himself (impenetrable, unshakeable), or it can be an imaginary cardboard castle. Jesus says that the way to build ourselves a real, solid house of refuge is to take His words to heart and obey them (Matthew 7:24). If we are not asking God to move in our hearts and help us live by all that Jesus says, then we are building a sloppy structure that may seem just fine while the sun is shining but will invite death and destruction when a hurricane comes.

For example, Jesus teaches in plain language that we are not to resist an evil person but in meekness accept what God brings about (Matthew 5:38-42). If I nod my head when I read that in my Bible but then go out into the world and defend my property and fight for my own personal rights, then I am trusting in earthly wisdom. The wisdom of the world says, “God loves me, so of course he wouldn’t want me to endure suffering at the hands of an evil person.” The wisdom of the world leads me to fight for myself, whereas the Bible encourages me that it is the Lord who fights for me (Deuteronomy 3:22; 2 Chronicles 20; Psalm 37). It is essential that we reject worldly wisdom. It is the stuff of cardboard fortresses.

Hope is found in Proverbs 3:5, which reminds me to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. Looking around at my circumstances leads to grumbling and a puny faith. As a worshiper of the living God, I believe that my days are in His hands. I believe that there is eternal blessing to be gained by walking in obedience to His words, and I believe that it is harmful to act counter to God’s word because of a perceived outcome. Let us never forget that looking forward to eternity with our Heavenly Father, we have cause to rejoice over our suffering here on Earth (Matthew 5:11-12; 1 Peter 5:9-10; Hebrews 10:34).

I wonder if we have any inkling of the magnitude of the blessing we reject when we refuse to humble ourselves before our Master. What intimate communion could be ours but is not because we have never yet forsaken our own understanding and wholeheartedly embraced the Lord’s teachings?

Jesus’s words are offensive to our flesh, but He says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:6). We overcome our flesh through prayer and submission to a God that we can trust as good. In Him, we can turn from the inferior comforts of the world to find the true, unshakeable comfort that he promises.

If it feels impossible to accept ideas that seem to go against our own concept of goodness and justice, we must pray to the God who freely bestows wisdom on all who ask. The things of God are not the same as the things of man, and we are naturally blind to his ways until He opens our eyes. But open our eyes He will, if that is our heart’s true desire. Resting in faith is not the same as doing nothing. It is spiritual warfare. It requires the discipline of prayer and a knowledge of who our Father is and what He wants from us. It takes a willingness to lay down our own desires and plans for our life and joyfully accept whatever He has in store for us. It is the knowledge that when we see a problem, an uncertainty, or an injustice, the first thing we need to do is get on our knees and ask for His wisdom and strength.

Trusting in the Lord does not look like doing nothing; it looks like doing nothing that He did not first call us to. Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” To dwell in the shelter of the Most High, to abide in the shadow of the Almighty, we MUST hold fast without wavering. Believe that He is faithful, and rest in Him. It is the only true rest that can be found.

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A Search Team of One

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by Interim Pastor Steve McCoy

One of my special delights is to train pastoral search teams. As they embark on this journey, I share how searching for a ministry leader is a faith-filled, time-tested adventure.

As they prepare for the task, I take them to the classic story where Abraham sent his trusted servant, Eliezer, to search for a wife for his son, Isaac (Genesis 24).

This is what I call a “search team of one”!

Before launching out, Abraham gave Eliezer some search parameters: she had to be a distant relative, not a Canaanite (Genesis 24:3–4).

Our elders gave a number of parameters to the Pastoral Search Team to guide their search.

Oh yes, when Eliezer found the right prospect, she had to be willing to relocate: “If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine” (Genesis 24:8a).

This is a critical question for our search team as they interview prospective pastors: Are they willing to relocate to the Pacific Northwest?

Then when the “perfect” spouse was found she was given gifts—jewelry made of gold and silver, as well as clothing (Genesis 24:10a, 22b, 47b, 53).

When we host on-site visits with prospective pastor, we give gifts—transportation, lodging, meals, hospitality, honorarium, and goodbye gifts. He is our guest. We attempt to curry favor in a time-honored fashion.

Then lastly, and most importantly, the whole process was bathed in prayer. “Then he [Eliezer] prayed, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham’” (Genesis 24:12). The nation of Israel is a result of that answered prayer.

May God hear the prayers of Elim and answer with similar success!

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