A Noble Profession

In the course of my life I have formed a glorious opinion: the artist is one of the most noble occupations one can have. Unfortunately, in the course of my life I have also come to a tragic conclusion: the artist's job is one of the hardest of all. Probably every outer instinct you possess is reacting to my theories. I say "outer instinct" because you haven't stopped fully to think. Let me explain myself.

There are many noble occupations in the world that I value. The construction worker is just as important as the farmer because while without one we would starve, without the other we wouldn't be able to travel to the store and keep ourselves from starving. The janitor is just as key as the doctor because while without one we'd have no way to be cured, without the other we'd have so much filth that there would be too much sickness to even try to cure it. Such jobs and countless others are vital in proper care of the body, but we all know that the body is temporary.

Teachers! Ah, yes! Where would we be without them? I would not be writing this and you would not be reading if we hadn't had teachers to pass on knowledge and to mold our young minds into sharp, thinking instruments. And yet--there is so much more to life than just head knowledge.

Artists, on the other hand, don't seem to have direct impact on the mind and they seem to have even less on the body. Or so it seems. We admire a spectacular painting, breathe in the soft strains of a sweet melody, or delve into another world inside a book, and when we leave the art we've been exposing ourselves to, any onlooker might say we were no different. In fact, what have we gained? We cannot silence a rumbling stomach with a painting nor staunch the flowing blood of the wounded with a tonic chord. A story doesn't usually teach us that C6H12O6 is glucose; our minds seem to have barely expanded. And yet we've already agreed that the body is temporary, and there's more to life than what you know.

So what does last?

The fact is, there's something deeper than the body and deeper than the mind. The spirit (or heart) and soul are the essence of a person. Now, I'm no theologian or psychologist. I'm not going to explain and dissect where one begins and the other ends. But I'm just as confident that they exist as I am that there's a North Pole, even though I have never seen it and don't fully understand how it works. The soul is the deepest part of you, where it surrenders itself is where you will spend eternity. But personally, I believe that there's something that's almost as deep but not quite as deep, and that's your spirit. It is loosely linked with your personality and even more loosely connected with your emotions. It is the outermost shell of your soul. This is getting way more abstract than I wanted to go, but bear with me.

How do you respond to a fine work of art? Does it make your heart beat faster, your breathing slow down? Does it fill you with excitement or awe? Why? You may have a difficult time explaining this. There is no outward reason your body should respond or your emotions fluctuate as you bask in the art. The only reason I can think of is that something within you is responding. As the beauty of what you are seeing, or listening to, or reading calls out to you, something inside of you is answering. That something is your spirit. As the art is reflecting the wonder of a Creator, we, as created beings, are responding naturally, drawn to the creation that so clearly cries, "Look! I am beautiful! Somebody made me! And I'm reflecting my ultimate Maker!" And if our spirits are tuned in to this voice, our automatic result is worship. We leave the room exactly the same on the outside, but forever changed on the inside.

Needless to say, the Enemy doesn't like this.

Anything that ministers to our spirits is going to face resistance from the powers of darkness. Why? Firstly, our spirits are just a small step away from our souls, and the Enemy wants these under his prickly belt. If he wants to get his sticky fingers on our souls then he will undoubtedly set out to crush our spirits. Once this shell is punctured his opportunities widen. Secondly, anything that even remotely inspires worship of the true Creator is to be discouraged.

And so the battle rages. I am not here to debate what constitutes good or bad art, but I think many Christians can agree that much art is crudely twisted. Paintings swirl into pornography, melodies of heaven crunch into sounds of hell, tales of valor morph into subtle promotions of deceit.

You would think with so much bad art more Christians would be inspired to counterbalance it. However, here's where Satan has stepped in again. He has taken one of the most noble professions (ministering to the spirit) and has projected it as an elevated hobby. He convinces people that you have to have a rare talent to ever make a go at being an artist. He discourages adults who were prolific artists as children by embarrassing them with their crude style. He depicts artists as feeble wanderers who can barely scratch out a living until the picture has almost turned into a reality. He impresses the importance of "real jobs" like banking and cooking while minimizing your art so much that you feel obliged to put it at the bottom of your priority list. "It's really a waste of time, after all," you tell yourself sadly, then you go for a run, go to work, feed the dog, and fritter away the rest of your time on the Internet.

But is art really a waste of time?

No.

And again I say, "No."

What's more important than ministering to one's spirit? I can think of only a few professions off the top of my head that go deeper than helping just the body and mind: those involved in ministry, and parents. If you're a missionary or pastor your priority is the soul, the core of man. It is possible to be a missionary and a teacher, or police man, or secretary, or anything else, I know, so many of us may already be missionaries even if we don't realize it. These people are vital, caring for souls as well as bodies, minds, and spirits as long as they remain focused. Parents too are essential because they appeal to the bodies, spirits, and souls of their children in a "controlled" mission field. The artist, however, need not distract himself with caring for the body. No sirree, they can target the spirit right away and by the blessing of God stir the spirit into worship. And if the Holy Spirit is in it, that spirit may be softened into unfolding its delicate petals and surrendering the soul within to its Maker.

This idea may indeed be fantasized, I'll not pretend otherwise. But like every story of true art, I believe such fantasies contains gems of truth truer than any spoken. So if you're an artist of any sort, take courage. Your work is more important than you know. And as warped as the world's appetites have become, they are hungry for the true art you have to give them. I say this to myself more than anybody else: don't let them go hungry. Don't be afraid to put forth your art as a testimony to the Creator. Naturally speaking I'm scared sick to do this because I know I don't have what it takes to be a great artist. But greatness doesn't matter. It's the real Artist that does.

Think of Him and the impact you can have together.