“It would be interesting to know what it is men are most afraid of. Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what they fear most….” (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment)
In his insightful book The War of Art, author Steven Pressfield identifies the greatest challenge for every creator and creative endeavor. The experience of what he calls “resistance.” Anyone who has sat down to write, draw, or engage in any other creative endeavor is familiar with this resistance. When the conception is in our imagination, there is excitement and anticipation, but when we attempt to execute our creative vision, resistance meets us with a power that can ultimately shut down the whole idea.
As a Christian, I suspect that this is connected to the reality of the fall of humanity into sin described in the biblical account of Genesis. Man was created in the image of God and therefore possess the derivative gift of creativity, but when the curse of sin was declared over Adam, God said that man would now experience hard labor in his daily toil and that work would be accomplished “by the sweat of your face” (Gen. 3:19). Pending deeper study and reflection, my instinct is to apply this to the reality of resistance when we set about to do creative work. Here then are some biblical categories to consider that fill out the concept of resistance in the project of creation.
Pride
The root of all sin and a dangerous impediment for the creative person. Pride can both stimulate delusions of grandeur as we imagine the project in front of us and neuter the execution of that project by paralyzing us, leading us to suspect that others may think less of us if what we create isn’t as amazing as we think it is. This is connected as well to:
Fear of Man
The wisdom of Proverbs informs us that “the fear of man lays a snare” (Prov. 29:25a). When we live for the approval of others, our work will suffer. We will either adjust our vision in an attempt to appeal more broadly and potentially receive more adoration, or we will fail to follow through altogether because we are overly concerned about a cool reception to our work.
Laziness
It is easy not get to work. It is easy to coast. There is a mental cost to sitting down at a computer and starting to generate content. Laziness and procrastination are deadly for the creative process and can be insidious. Pressfield talks about how we can hide our laziness behind gaining more information or getting more training. One can even be lazy by taking a writing class if it is a subtle way of putting off the work instead of just getting to it.
A Heart To Serve
An important way to break through this resistance is to dedicate our creative work to God in service of his purposes, and with a heart to serve others. If our primary purpose is to glorify God in whatever we do (1 Cor. 10:31) and if our aim is to serve others, we can lay aside our pride and get to work. Yes, we will receive criticism, but if we receive it with humility, it will help us grow. For sure, our work will not always be appreciated, but if we live to serve God, then we can experience his smile over our labor.
What is the next step that God is calling you to take? What is the next word that God is calling you to write? Let’s “make the best use of our time” (Eph. 5:16), and get to work serving God and serving others with the gifts that God has given us!