an excerpt from: Introduction

An excerpt from: Introduction

All of mankind should be running after God in all of life. What is God telling us about Himself when He made the ocean? What is God saying about Himself when He made man in His image? What is God evidencing about Himself when He conceived of artistic expression and then built man in such a way that man would be able to express his heart and mind artistically and even take enjoyment in it? We should seek to find out so we can experience the full portion of pleasure that God has for us in those things. God is leading us to Himself as we enjoy what He has made, but do we see Him or do we only see what He has made? Where we can only see what God has made and not recognize it as being from God, we will confuse the created for the Creator and misplace or misappropriate our affections for the created. We will error in thinking that art or some emotion is the end of art, rather than God and God’s purposes for giving us art and emotion. We will error in thinking that the ocean and its design in the life cycle is the end rather than God and God’s purposes in creating the ocean and its part in the life cycle. We will error in thinking that a tree or a habitat is the end rather than God and God’s purposes for creating trees and habitats. We will error in thinking that man is the end of man, rather than God being the end of man. Since God is the beginning of all things, He is therefore the end of all things, including art. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).

In God’s emanation of at least a portion of the breadth of His creative ability, He took pleasure to create man in such great variation. While God designed some people to know and reflect His glory through being unusually fast or strong, He designed others to know and reflect His glory through being artistically inclined. When I say to know God’s glory I mean this: As God has created each person with their own unique character and set of abilities, each person then has a personally unique theater of life in which they could experience, if they would only listen, that extra personal communion with God their Creator. It is that theater that God often uses to specially articulate His glory to that person. It is not the only theater, it is just a more focused theater for that person.

As we grow in the knowledge of God, we should be growing in our responding to what we have learned of God with worship. In this theater of art, we should be growing in the worship of God. We should be seeking to know what God is saying about Himself in this thing we call art, since God Himself made man with the desire and ability to artistically express his heart.

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excerpt from The Affections of the Heart in Art - a wrestling for the full pleasures in art Jason Harms