Sharing is Caring

This Annie Dillard quote challenged me today: "The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes."

I'm not sure if anyone else can relate, but I feel this constant fear of sharing what I am passionate about. As someone who highly values learning, I have been exposed to many ideas, philosophies and creative concepts over the years. In and of themselves, none of these concepts have influenced me, but not changed me completely.

As a follower of Jesus, I am committed to the worldview that he outlines, when he commissions his followers to “teach his commands, and to go and make disciples” (Matthew 28).

Likewise, when Paul encourages the early Church to “be in the world, but not of it”, (verse) I have found many of these ideas and philosophies helpful, but ultimately I do not put my full hope in them completely. Because I also know that “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:7)

I think that many ideas and ways of looking at the world can be helpful for us, especially us Christians, because they can call to attention what “the world” and the people in the world are concerned with in our current times.

I am drawn to the concepts of Minimalism, Simple Living, Psychology, Economics, Sociology and a few others. I believe that the concepts and research behind these fields of studies can help us be better followers of Jesus. In fact, the Bible covers a lot of these things, some thousands of years before they are formally introduced with literature and research.

Above all, however, is my interest in the field of creativity.

Likewise, I know that this is an important thing to God. Namely because it is the second thing that we learn about God in the opening verse of his word. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

The first thing we learn about God in this verse is that A. God exists. Not only this, but he existed before all things. That is to say that God was not created. This is supported by the second thing we can determine from this opening verse. B. God is creative.

Put another way, God is driven to create.

The first thing that God does, besides exist is “create” the heavens and the earth. I believe that creativity is a foundational characteristic of God. The more I study and learn about his other attributes, ie. His love, providence, wisdom, glory, etc. are all in someway connected to his identity of creativity.

God created, out of his wisdom - knowing all things. God is Omniscient: all knowing, and Omnipotent: all powerful. These two attributes give him the ability to create and to create the heavens and the earth in the way that he did. God created, fully knowing the reality that sin would cause the creation to fall. Fully knowing that he would send his Son, to redeem fallen humanity. God created with all this in mind, yet the Proverb says that “by wisdom, the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding He set the heavens in place." (3:19).

God created, out of his sole power to do so. *God created ex-nihilio, which means “from nothing”. This is the unique ability of God - to create from nothing.

God created, because he loves.

God created, to be glorified.

Much more could be said (and has been said by others much wiser than myself), but I will digress here.

The point I am trying to make is that God is creative. God has the ability to create, did create all things as we know it, and ultimately promises the “new heavens and the new earth” - the new creation, in which all things will be restored to their former glory.

God’s creativity is one of the most important things that we, as Christian should put our hope in.

So Creativity is important. It’s an important aspect of who God is, and for our understanding of our place and hope in this world. But outside of these reasons, why should creativity be important to us?

As the quote I referenced above mentions, not sharing - not giving away what has helped us in this life, is a practice of folly. Annie Dillard puts it more bluntly, “it’s destructive”.

When Jesus commissioned his disciples to “go and make disciples” it came with the inherit subtext to “tell your story”. When we share about how Jesus has transformed our lives, people will likewise have the opportunity to let the Holy Spirit work in the hearts, and enable their belief.

In many ways, we echo one of the first Christian testimonies “I was blind, but now I see” (John verse). When we choose to not share, to not recommend the things that have positively made an impact in our lives, we are inherently acting out of selfishness. When we keep within ourselves what God is doing in our lives, we are in many ways, dishonoring the glory of his redemptive works in our lives - in the world.

Now, I understand how Ironic this feels. Inevitably, when we share, we are in some way “making it about ourselves”. In our social media era we are keenly aware of the influencers that have plagued our society with this type of self-centered nonsense. Our knee jerk reaction (or at least mine) is to avoid sharing anything about ourselves at all costs. *in fact, this very fear is the main reason I have put off starting this blog, share my writing, and pray that God could use my heart and my work to make an impact in this broken world. This has been something that he has put on my heart for over five years, so ironically I needed to start with this topic, to challenge myself to step into this part of my call boldly.

Our intentions to do so are selfless at heart. But I believe that in many ways, the devil is at work to prevent the people of God of sharing their stories of transformation - their testimonies, because he knows the power they hold.

It’s much easier to not share at all. To hide behind the walls of our social media handles and simple like, comment and share on the posts and ideas of our friends and family.

It’s much safer to not put the most vulnerable parts of our lives - in many ways, the most real parts of who we are - out in the open and out to the public. I think that this is valuable to consider for many reasons. Keeping our personal information safe is invaluable in this day and age. But that does not give us the excuse to neglect the wonderful parts of our stories, by not sharing them.

If you know me well, then you should know that I am highly skeptical of social media and people who compulsively use it. Either by sharing too much of their lives, or consuming too much of other people’s. But at the same time, if we are going to choose to allow these technologies into our lives, then we should feel convicted about sharing good things on them. Indeed to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).

When God created the heavens and the earth, he did so to show off his glory, his power and ability to create. He did so, so that we (the stewards of his creation) could enjoy it and cultivate it.

Likewise, we are called to be creative. We are compelled to share what we have been gifted with, what we are passionate about.

Peter puts it this way:

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:10)

Paul puts it another:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.” (Colossians 3:23-24).

So we can know, that it’s vital for us to share. It’s vital for us to create.

The major difference between us and God, and the motivations for each of us to do so, lies in the reality that, as Christians, we create in order to give glory to God. Our testimonies exist solely to bring praise to his name.

The quality, integrity and content of our creative works all point to God - to his qualities, his integrity, his heart.

I am starting this blog as a challenge for myself. To “practice what I am preaching”. For too long, I have put off sharing my thoughts, my words, the wonderful stories and things that God has been doing in my life. For too long, I have let fear hold me back, and selfishly sit behind the lines - letting the devil convince me that I had no bullets to contribute to this war.

But I am ready to get into the ring. I am eager to get into the fight.

And I pray that it would not be for my own gain, or for my own glory, but truly for his. I have learned a lot in the past few years. I have lived a lot of life, even for my younger age. But the more I reflect on my past, the more and more I see how God was working in it all. The more and more evident his constant love for me persisted.

He truly has been, to quote John Mark McMillan: “my first, you are my last, you are my future and my past.”

The truth about my story is that he has been in and through it all. His love has been constant in the trials and in the change. I have sought freedom and autonomy in many other areas. I have been humbled, broken hearted and stuck down, but I have not been destroyed. And I am confident, solely in his loving and gracious arms that have always welcomed me back home. I am confident, solely in the fact that he calls me his own, his child, his beloved.

I am excited to finally make that claim. To step into that identity with full force.

To trust that he could use this - my story, my heart and my ideas to bring others closer to him, yes, but ultimately to honor his name.

Noah Miller,

3.7.25, The Stray