Did you know that about 30% of the Bible is poetry?

We need the artists to help us unpack the truths in the Bible. We have gotten very good at slicing and dicing the Bible through the transliteration of biblical languages. While this has been – and will continue to be – immensely helpful to biblical scholarship, we also need the nuance of the artists to help us see what only they can see.

The artists are often the first to see and feel a truth – active intentional followers of Christ, or not. They bring it out of their subconscious and into their art – even when they have no idea what they are really doing and cannot fathom the depths of truth their art is expressing. John Wimber used to say that while the Bible is all truth, not all truth is in the Bible.

Having said that, we certainly need a grid to run truth through… For me that includes Scripture and counsel from those whom I respect and admire in the Lord.

Back to art… C. S. Lewis said that art is often a backdoor to truth – and that his imagination was baptized when he was still an atheist because of excellent art.

The creativity that forms art is certainly biblical. The first sentence in the Bible speaks to its prominence:

“In the beginning, God created…” God initiates creativity.

Jesus modeled artful creativity as well. He was always changing his approach to expressing the gospel narrative.

“He did not say anything to them without using a parable” (Matt. 13:34).

He spoke in many different venues and employed many different object lessons including drawing in the sand, turning over tables, picking up a coin, pointing to a sower, and setting a child on his lap.

Just some thoughts…