God as Creator, Us as Subcreators…

Have you seen that episode of How I Met Your Mother, where the Mother’s old orchestra teacher asks her what her main goal in life was? She said she wanted to end poverty, and he said every decision she made from then on out needed to serve that goal. Yes I know it’s a silly TV show, but what if we all had that kind of mentality about our purpose in life? 

If you are a Christian, then you should already know what your goal or purpose is. God is pointing us directly to it all over scripture: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 1 Peter 4:10 Basically, we are called to use our gifts to serve God, love others, and teach people to do the same.  

So now that we know our main goal in life, we have to ask ourselves: is every decision we make intended to serve that goal? Where you live, who you spend time with, what job you pursue? You may think these things have nothing to do with your faith and I’m here to tell you you’re wrong. God blessed you with place and people and a passion, and it’s up to you to give it back to Him. Use these things to serve Him and love others. So what does that look like? 

Well I believe God called me to be a writer. It is my passion, I think I have a real skill for it, and I would love to pursue it as a full-time career. But that doesn’t make it mine. God gave this gift to me and it is my responsibility to use it wisely. Most of my writing is creative nonfiction that points clearly to God and His all-powerful love. However, not all of my writing is Christian-based. I have some fiction and poetry and autobiographical stuff that doesn’t inherently point to God. But it is still Christ-honoring. It still serves God and others. It is still good work that reflects my amazing Creator. 

I call my pieces of writing “subcreations,” which is a term I got from J.R.R. Tolkien, the amazing author of Lord of the Rings. He uses it to describe his fictional world of Middle Earth, which is his creation within God’s primary creation. I use it to mean every little thing I create in this world, to remind myself that they are just subsets within this real world that God created. He created first. It is His world. I create because He taught me to. And everything I make is temporary to this earth. My little blogs and books do not compare to God’s writings of oceans and mountains and people. But they can entertain and encourage God’s children while we’re here on earth. And that’s the point, right? 

We know that this life won’t last forever, and we know Jesus is coming back one day. But does that mean we should just waste this time on earth because there is no point? No! We are called to be good stewards. To love God and others. To create because He first created us. So that we can live life to the fullest while we’re here and bring as many people to God’s warm embrace as possible.  

So yes, your work matters. Where you live matters. Who you spend your time with matters. God longs for you to be happy, but He also calls for your service. Treat everything you create and every decision you make as a subset within God’s ultimate universe. You are an important piece of His puzzle, so use your gifts to love Him and those around you. 

As Polly would put it, we write because we were first written. As I put it, God’s the Author – I’m just taking notes.