5 Ways to Make Your Art More Meaningful

by Erik Peterson

“Like all art, poems are only hints and guesses that draw our attention to something larger.” - Luci Shaw

Art is a window through which we glimpse the rays of eternity. In this way, all true and good art, whether poetry or pottery, music or mixed media, allow us to see out of our narrowness into an expansive view of God’s wildly creative glory that touches all things. 

Perhaps the fascination with art is that, in its incarnate mystery, we are enticed onward to drink more deeply from the well of God’s inexhaustible grace. 

God desires art, along with all other created things, to be a vessel through which He can make Himself known. 

When our hearts are connected with God’s, the vessel that is our art is illuminated.

As Luci Shaw points out, even though our “hints and guesses” may be small, when infused with heart, God transforms our vision to see more of Himself. 

And as we do this, we begin to interweave our own creations with more radiant threads of His goodness. 

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How do we go about this process of inviting God into our art, and allowing our art to be shaped by His hands? Read on.

5 Ways to Make Your Art More Meaningful

1. Be with God’s people 

We are formed together, not alone. Be yourself, just as you are, and connect with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Be open and humble, learning from each other. (Hebrews 10: 24-25) 

2. Soak & Listen

There are endless ways to listen:

• Soak in God’s truth and find the oldness and newness of His story of redemption in Scripture.
• Seek out and listen to the wise voices that encourage you in your faith and art.
• Listen for the unique ways God is provisioning you to create - with the raw materials of insights and inspirations through the creativity of His Spirit at work within you.
• Capture and integrate what you are studying and learning in your craft, whether through books, other people’s art, or your own ongoing education. How are you absorbing what is usefully aligned with God’s purposes and your unique vision, and what are you discarding?
• Finally, it’s important to be honest and listen to our pains, struggles and sins. What are they teaching us, and do we have ears to hear? Bring them all to God and soak in the truths He speaks over you. Which leads to our next point!

3. Pray in your identity as God’s child

I heard a powerful encouragement recently from a pastor named Pete Shambrook.

He invites us to “practice praying positionally.”

By this he means, pray out of the glorious identity truths that are ours in Christ. Beloved by God. Dead to sin and alive in Christ. Set free to love. And so many more.

4. Play & Shape 

Knowing God that gives you the freedom to create, play with all the gifts, skills and inspirations He has shaped in you over the course of your life. Use whatever you have and all that you have.

Many of the greatest artists credit their success to a spirit of play, which compels them to discover more and frees them to continue shaping their craft through all seasons.

With a relaxed posture of play and humility, mistakes are transformed from enemies into necessary allies on the journey of growth. 

5. Give & Let Go 

Give your art over to God.

Remember, your art will not be accepted by everyone, and that’s perfectly normal and ok! I mean, do you like every piece of writing or visual work you see? Exactly!

However, your art will reach the people it needs to reach.

Bless and release your art with fragrant prayers of thanks as you share your creations with the world.

Let go of your need for approval and your attachment to results. Instead, keep creating, keep learning, and keep giving. 

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As an artist desiring to be a vessel of God’s work, one or more of these five connected avenues can infuse more life and meaning into your work.

Often we disconnect our formation from our art, but they are inextricably linked.

God desires to form all of our faculties to bless others. Let’s walk in the good works he has planned for us!  

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