This morning, my reading in 2 Corinthians found me at the famous “cheerful giver” passage. As strange as it may seem, the principles in passage (famously about donating money) also apply to creating art. How is this so?
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Sowing bountifully
There are many, many hacks on the internet promising creative “success,” and by this, people mean numbers. Statistics. Views and followers.
While building a platform isn’t a bad thing, the foundation of your platform needs to be good content and good character1 . Many people deceive themselves by chasing growth according to the algorithm, instead of growing their skills and knowledge base.
True success takes effort; consistently putting in the hard work. It’s called “sowing” in the context of this verse.
Our church discusses sowing quite a bit. Sowing involves randomly throwing out handfuls of seed. The sower’s hope is that enough of it will grow to feed and support their family.
In creating art, it can feel like much of our work falls to the ground unnoticed, despite us anxiously looking for fruit. Nevertheless, many artists share stories of art they “threw out there” without any expectations becoming something more impactful than they had imagined.
It is tempting to spend a lot of time and energy trying to grow our platforms, but it’s more important to grow our character and our content. What does this look like?
Sowing bountifully.
Invest in your art.
Approach it with a liberal attitude, not a stingy one.
Spend time doing art even if you can’t see an immediate benefit.
Doodle stupid comics in the margins of your notebooks.
Read about and study your craft.
Be consistent, even if it’s “only” a small thing.
Show up. Spend the “bum in the chair” time, even if it feels useless.
Jump on the odd opportunities that come your way, even if it’s a little outside of your “niche.”
You can’t reap bountifully if you sow sparingly.
Something that gets in the way of sowing bountifully is money. I get it. I’m an adult, and I have to pay for rent and bills and insurance and taxes and tuition and groceries and gas. I’m also an entrepreneur, and marketing feels second nature to me. So the question “how can I make money from this?” lives in my head. (I really should start charging rent!)
But I have found this puts me, as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “under a compulsion and steals my joy in making art and causing me to look for cheap shortcuts that shortchange myself, my work, and my audience.2
Instead, I want to be a cheerful artist, giving glory to God and valuable art to my audience.
2 Corinthians 9:8-11
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
Creative block is hard at times, but sowing bountifully and giving glory to God leads to these promises: abounding grace and sufficiency in all things.
Does this promise sunshine and roses and everything will be easy?
No.
See that’s why God offers grace. Grace for sowing without seeing a harvest, grace for getting frustrated when people ask “are you still doing your little blog thing?”, grace for trying new things and failing.
And sufficiency. Sufficiency means “enough” or “adequate.” While as an artist I have dreams of great things, it’s equally important to be satisfied with where I’m at on the journey. God will provide sufficiently, and I’m better off if I slow down to see His working in the present instead of rushing ahead into the future.
2 Corinthians 9:12-15
For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,
while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
If I slow down and appreciate where I am and what God’s doing and enjoy my art, I will, naturally, “overflow in many thanksgivings.” If I rush ahead to the future, I’ll never be satisfied. Because right now, I’m in the future for 13-year-old me who wanted to be a writer. For 17-year-old me who started Flight Patterns. In fact, I’m living the dream. I’m exactly where I wanted to be 6 years ago. And slowing down to consider that makes me feel a lot more thankful for what God has done for me.
Through my art, I hope to glorify God and bless others. Verse 13 talks about how other people will glorify God when, because of the gospel in our lives, we give generously.
After all, both the gift of salvation and the gift of artistic talent come from God. When I remember to thank God for His gifts and selflessly share them with others, I find myself more content with and less stressed about what I make.
With that said, I hope this post blessed you and made your day a little brighter. What is something you’re thankful to God for?
According to Brett Harris, from his class on platform building.
Some people may wonder why then, I have a paid tier on Flight Patterns and if that sucks joy from my art. The answer is no, because I would be doing the same amount of work for the blog whether I was getting paid for it or not. 65% of my content is 100% free.