God's Curators

 GOD'S CURATORS: AN ARTISTIC VIEW ON STEWARDING OUR IMAGE.

WARNING! This post will ramble and as a rambling post on sensitive subjects, (image and identity), while care has been taken to speak sensitively some figurative bones of contention may have been overlooked, beware of bones! Eat the meat and leave out the bones.

side note: this post is over 2000 words long so well done if you read it thoroughly enough to find bones!

When we think of our role on earth as Christians we often think of saving the lost, going to church and getting to heaven, and that is all true, but we also have another assignment... stewardship.

I have been pondering on God's first instructions in the bible about stewardship

The earth and everything in it is God’s Creation, his artwork so to speak, but sin like the dust and sunlight on an old canvas has warped and cracked, some of God's Masterpieces, God has the ultimate triumph over sin but we as humanity were given the Job of stewarding the world and ourselves till Jesus returns in glory. So let’s take a look at how the bible defines Stewardship...

'Avad (\( עָבַד \)): Translates to "work," "serve," or "till". In Genesis 2:15, Adam is placed in the Garden of Eden to avad (serve/cultivate) it. This implies that our work on earth is ultimately an act of service to God.

Shamar (\( שָׁמַר \)): Translates to "keep," "guard," or "protect". Paired with avad in Genesis, it defines stewardship as actively guarding and preserving God's creation, rather than exploiting it.

Sochen (\( סֹכֵן \)): Often translated as "steward" in the Old Testament, meaning an agent, administrator, or trusted manager of a household. In Isaiah 22:15, it is used for an official put in charge of the king's palace.

Ne'eman (\( נֶאֱמָן \)): Meaning "faithful" or "trustworthy". A steward's primary qualification in the Hebrew mindset is emunah (faithfulness)—being utterly reliable in handling what belongs to another.

So the biblical definition uses terms that were familiar to the many centuries of Christians living in Farming societies where working the land and protecting people and households were the essentials of lifestyle. However the other day I felt God speaking to me about the same spirit of stewardship but looking through the Frame (pun intended) of Art, something I care and understand a lot about in my personal interests.

I love the definition of being utterly reliable in handling what belongs to another because as Christians we give everything to God so we have the task of being utterly reliable in handling whatever he gives us to handle in life. A hard task but it feels so meaningful to know that you’re fulfilling an important responsibility for God who knows exactly what you can handle.

Don’t you love when God takes concepts and prompts you to think about them in ways that you can more easily understand!

  The story began with a discussion with a Friend about Beauty and Inward Beauty vs the outward beauty. As Christian where do we stand on the matter? Does outward beauty matter at all? Or is inward the only thing worth looking at?

 Again I started to think about it and I realised that it’s not about disregarding the outward completely.

 Let’s picture three different curators with the job of curating a da Vinci original masterpiece and how it speaks about how they view da Vinci.

 the first curator takes it slaps it in a cheap plastic frame with glass covering the brushstrokes and pops it carelessly next to a bright window, after all its what’s inside the frame that matters what does it matter about the outside, it’s still a masterpiece, and I don’t have to work hard to set up lighting if its next to a window, and nobody else cares about my art collection anymore anyway. 

 As a viewer coming into that art gallery would we think that the curator who did that loved and respected the artist and his work? Or would we think they couldn’t care less?

 On the opposite end of the spectrum curator two decided to be loud in their choice of frame and try and demand attention to it imagine a hot neon pink feathered or velvet cushioned frame sat under a big glaring spotlight!

 As a viewer would you think they believed the artist was worth coming to see or would you think they were desperate for viewership and had to use attention grabbing ways because they were afraid of a lack of interest?

 then let us come to the third curator who painstakingly cleans and restores the artwork to the best of her ability, she chooses a tasteful gilt frame that matches the era of the painting, is classic, not too big nor to small, she makes sure to hang the painting in a specially designed area with no direct sunlight but a specially chosen lighting that doesn't glare off the brushstrokes but will allow them to be observed in every detail, she adds a simple well-made sign near the painting explain the story of the artist and pointing out little details in the artwork.

 What would we viewers think about that creator... if we thought of her at all? We would probably think how well she has done to restore the art and how she is clearly dedicated to her work and that she must love taking care and stewarding the art. She is however usually unnoticed as we walk by and admire the artist’s work.

 It’s the artist that shines through her work, not her herself who shines, though her love and care shine in reflection of the love and care of the artist.

 This illustration can apply to many areas of stewardship, both physical things and places and people, and spiritual things.

 But going back to where we began with our discussion of beauty, as a Lady I have some thoughts...

 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel 1 Peter 3:3.

  Inward beauty is the main goal here, however what we wear reflects us and our hearts, in bible times, women would wear heavy jewellery to honour their husbands, showing other members of society "my husband is successful and wealthy he can take care of me".

 Peter is saying here that we shouldn't be using clothes to one up each other.

  We don't need to say my family is taking care of me better than yours, because God now wants us to trust him to clothe and feed us in his perfect ways.

  Where the praise used to go to the husbands the praise now should go to God!

  So involve God in your Clothing choices!

 I Praise God every time he leads me to a beautiful dress, and it can be an especially powerful testimony to others to let God work in your life like that

  I remember wanting to find the perfect dress for some events and twice I prayed and both times in the last charity shop at the last minute God provided! Same thing happened when I needed wellies, I prayed and God provided the very day I needed them! God cares about providing for us with regards to what we wear, and we can glorify him in letting him help us decide what to wear, as Jesus said have you seen how he arrayed the lilies of the valley!

  Luke 12:27-28 New King James Version

 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not [a]arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

  The power of being able to say when someone says "what a lovely dress!" "Yes! God provided it for me!" is beautiful.

 We are the masterpieces of the Master craftsman, he has painted every brushstroke of us, and how we choose to dress, wear makeup, talk, and feel about things, is the curation of that work.

 So are we going to insecurely say the master did an okay job, but then say I hate the way my eyes squint when I smile or I have horrible shoulders! Do you feel the need to overcompensate with drama and makeup to try and draw attention and make a statement, because you aren't believing in the Artists vision for you, you feel the need to cover every blemish not out of art but out of self-hatred!

  a sunny smile on a grandma with spots and wrinkles is more beautiful than the face of a desperate woman fakely made up desperately trying to preform to both fit into the worlds ideals and stand out to be noticed because she feels if she doesn’t try hard enough she'll never be loved. I’m not saying that she should just do better! Show empathy and reach out to her because she is hurting and lonely, but healthy love never comes come from an empty cup unless God fills it. Help her find where to fill her cup in Christ so she will have love to spare for others. That’s another part of stewardship, helping others as a team! No masterpiece curator works alone, they all consult each other because different people have unique areas of specialisation to help each other.

 We all fall prey to this ourselves in different ways, we all have moments of pride and insecurity, but we need to fight against letting that define us and help others fight that too!

 We are creative beings but if creativity is being used to hide in insecurity or pride it draws away from the Masterpiece God has done in you. (I am speaking to myself here) and I'm not talking about fun use of makeup or other things that are playful and appropriate frames for different times in life, after all a hot pink velvet frame might compliment a dramatic modern art piece more than an antique guilt for instance! I’m talking about the heart attitude!  Insecurity and pride that makes you feel you MUST be loud, is quite a different thing from a louder frame that serves the artwork.

 Are we going to think well the master did a good job, I’m pretty but I just don’t really care about how I look or what others think anymore, I can wear whatever I want? And just throw on whatever every day and go out with, careless thoughtlessness in either true apathy or a self-expression that has no wisdom or context, for instance going to a black tie event in jeans because you don't really care or like dressing up, saying that God knows my heart what I wear doesn't matter, but then your heart is actually already saying I don’t care about others, I don’t care about those around me.

  I’m talking about a regular carelessness of attitude not times you have chosen thoughtfully to take it easy and wear comfortable clothes for good reasons for instance a pregnant woman who may feel uncomfortable and liable to trip in a long floor length gown at a black tie event may thoughtfully choose a shorter more comfy dress and it wouldn't be wrong at all, apathy, usually rooted in hurt, disconnect or disappointment, spills over into many areas of you character like how leaving a da Vinci in direct sunlight would slowly fade the colours. Don’t let carelessness slowly fade the wonder of what Christ has done in you!  On the other hand you don’t need to go the other way and overpaint the artist’s work trying to desperately fix cracks that aren’t there, it’s a loving curation, not perfectionism.

 Some messes aren't carelessness but a different kind of beauty that is an artwork in itself. 

 Such as a chocolate moustache on a laughing child or a messy house and rumpled muddy clothes with laughing family, or wearing rough old clothes for a hike, that’s the suitable frames for those artworks of life, not carelessness at all!

 The point is to love the master's work, use careful Holy Spirit provided direction to repair and restore the cracks in our canvases of character, steward our body by eating well and living well, choose our clothes as our frames and fall in love with dressing to frame the art of life, that celebrates and highlights the beautiful artwork God has done, tasteful and beautiful, a fitting frame for our masterpiece, neither gaudy nor careless showing a gentle beautiful careful love for our Artist and Maker. 

 Colossians 3:17: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him"

I'm certainly going to be giving some thoughts to curation. What about you?