Sunday 3 January 2010

The Ego's need for Genius

One of my main passions is to refocus the nature of gifts in the church.  Many Christians have been taught that they are a gift to the church, an idea that has led to inflated ego and a value system being imposed upon God's children.  The bible says we are given gifts and like all gifts they need to be passed to the one they are meant for.  Taking on the identity of a gift is error in the church as God is the giver of every gift and we simply pass it on to others as led.

I was recently watching a talk by writer Elizabeth Gilbert and she pointed out something very interesting.  She said that genius used to be something that was detached from your being and the genius would work through you to create.  If God works through Christians then it could be fair to say that this idea fits with Christianity.  I have no problem at all imagining that a third party such as an angel can work through us in our general field of creativity and this also applies to demonic forces should we let them.  I wouldn't force this into a doctrine  and right now I am just playing with ideas.

That said I have always been struck with Eph. 2:10 For we are God's workmanship...   the word workmanship is 'poema' in the original Greek.  The word 'poem' comes from this.  Amazing!  God's creativity is worked through us!  You have a genius working through you and he is the great 'I Am.' we need no other!   The drive for Christians to develop some kind of identity for themselves is driven by the misconception that a gift is their own identity.

The idea that 'genius' was a third party working through a person disappeared as Europe strove for self importance in the Renaissance .  Instead of 'having' a genius people 'became' a genius!  Identity was taken on by the person and if you take this to its logical conclusion you will agree it can lead to  the 'have's' and the 'have-nots.'  From here we then have a class system imposed upon gift, talent and ability.  Does this sound familiar?  Isn't gift, talent and ability rewarded at different levels in this world?  Of course,  that's how society sees our roles, tasks and functions on earth.  When this set of values is imposed on church we have a problem.  How can a 'have' and 'have-not' system work amongst brothers and sisters?

It doesn't, yet millions of Christians exist within these wrong attitudes to 'ability'.  The truth is that God is your Genius!  He wants to work through you and your only challenge is to find how God can work through YOU! Don't be fooled into thinking that others are somehow superior or you are less-than amongst brothers and sisters.  And don't be thinking creative genius is just how you paint, act or sing.  God's Genius does not fit into our narrow perspective.  It is far reaching and involves every step of our interaction with this world.  Enjoy being you.