54 – 5-Minute Mentoring: Is it OK To Sell Art That God Inspired Your To Create?

54 – The 5-Minute Mentor: Is it OK To Sell Art That God Inspired Your To Create?

In this episode, I answer a question from Miriam, one of our Thriving Christian Artists Facebook Group Members: Is it OK for me to sell art that God inspired me to create? 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey there, have you ever wondered if it's okay to sell art that God inspired you to do? Is that like bring a weird mojo into your work? Or does God actually want you to sell the work that he inspires in the marketplace? Well, it's not an easy answer, but we'll be talking about it here on 5-Minute Mentoring. Stay tuned. Have you ever wanted to have someone in your life who you could ask real questions about your art, your business, and even your walk with the Lord? Well, that's exactly what we do every Friday here on Five Minute Mentoring, where I answer one question from one of my awesome podcast listeners in order to help you start really thriving as the artist you know God created you to be. Well, hey, welcome to 5-Minute Mentoring. I'm really glad that you're here with me today. describe that a little bit. She talks about this idea of fueling her prophetic gift with greed or other things that could twist the gift or the giver. And she's struggling with that. And so she goes on in the post and she said, hey, I've been processing this for a while and I'm quite sure of where I stand now, but would love to hear your thoughts about prophetic gifting, creative talent, and the relationship to money as Christians. And just, you know, have I ever struggled with that or not? Well, Miriam, let me say this. And to all All of you out there, Christians really struggle with this because it can really seem disingenuous sometimes if you feel like, hey, God's given me this gift and how can I charge for something that God has inspired me with? Well, the interesting thing is, I think that the question really reveals a real fundamental confusion about how the kingdom of God works and also how stewardship works in the kingdom. So I want to start with stewardship. No Number one, when God gives you something, when God gives you an inspiration or something like that, it's an investment. It's a seed that goes down inside of you. And what happens is, based on how you allow that to mature, allow it to grow, how you invest that investment, how you allow that seed to be cultivated and cared for in your life, depends on how much fruit that seed is going to produce. Now, There also is a big, big differentiation between doing your work as a hobby, doing your work as a ministry, and also doing your artwork in the marketplace. And typically that happens as a progression. See, most people don't just start out as artists in the marketplace. They start out as a hobbyist. Just that's what I did. I started making baskets for years. Just, you know, some people may go play golf or some people play tennis or, you know, do whatever. I made baskets for fun. And when I started actually, you know, getting good at it, all of a sudden people started saying, hey, can I buy one of those? Or are those for sale? Or have you thought about doing that show? And I started selling more and more until one, you know, I guess it was back in 2009, 2008. I started really focusing on selling my work. And in 2011, I started selling my work as my full-time vocation. Well, that just happened as the Lord opened the door. Now, anybody that would ever come to me and just say, well, Matt, you know, artists, if God inspired an artist, they should never sell their work. I would just laugh at them because I'm like, God gives you many times your artwork. If you're an artist, he gives you your artwork, not only as a way to connect with him, not only as a way to encourage other people, but also as a way. to allow you to thrive in the marketplace. See, God brings provision into your life, all right, money, finances, in line with the assignment that he's given you in the kingdom. And most of the time when artists are struggling with money, one of the big reasons is that they're looking for their provision outside of the way that God provides that, which is through your assignment. Because why? God doesn't want you focused on money all the time. running around trying to figure out where you're going to get your next meal from. He talked about that extensively in Matthew 4, 5, and 6. The underlying current of kingdom teaching on finances is that God is your provider. And if you connect with him, he then will bring provision into your life. And I believe that's in line with the assignment that he's given you in the kingdom. So when Miriam asked the question, you know, is it okay for a Christian artist to sell work that's inspired by the Holy Spirit, I would say absolutely if he's called you to do that in the marketplace. Now, the other side of that is not every artist is called to sell their work in the marketplace. Sometimes God gives you your art as a ministry. It's just something that you love to do, you want to bless other people with. Sometimes you're doing it as a ministry inside the church and outside the church. And sometimes you're doing it as a ministry and as a vocation. For example, I know tons of artists who are painters, for example, who sell their work in galleries and do commissioned work and are thriving in that realm. And yet when they're at church, they're doing that as a ministry. So the main thing I think to understand when you're thinking about selling your work is what's the intention of my heart? Number one, is my intention to do this as a hobby or as a ministry or a as a full-time vocational or part-time vocational artist? Or is it a little bit of a mix and understand those boundaries for yourself? The other thing I would say to anybody that's considering selling their work is you don't have to allow other people to determine what you do with your artwork. That's between you and the Lord, all right? And it's really, really important. I think this is just a boundaries issue for all of us as artists Determine in your heart what the Lord is saying. Ask people that you respect, that you believe God is speaking through in your life. Ask them for their input and get clear on what God's called you to do. And then, you know, if anybody doesn't agree with that or doesn't think that's appropriate, that's a wonderful opportunity to draw a boundary and just move on. Don't get all dramatic about it. Don't get all, oh, what am I going to do? They said this and I don't know how to react. Nope, you don't have to do that. All you have to do is just draw a boundary, smile, and move on and do the thing that you know God's called you to do. All right? That's a great, great question. Listen, if you've got questions for me out there that you'd love me to consider here on 5-Minute Mentoring, I would love to hear those. All you've got to do is tag me in the group inside Thriving Christian Artists, or you can tag me on Instagram at MattTommyMentoring, and we'll catch those. I also want to encourage you, be sure to subscribe on iTunes to the podcast or whatever service that you're listening on and review it. All right? That really helps a lot. It helps other people know that this podcast is meaningful to you, that I'm sharing information that's a blessing in your life and that's helping you really thrive as an artist that God's called you to be. All right? Until next time, I hope that you're having an awesome day and that this has been a real encouragement in your life today. Come back again every Tuesday for a fresh interview or teaching on the Thriving Christian Artists podcast and every Friday for another segment of 5-Minute Mentoring. All right. Talk to you soon. Bye.