Text: Exodus 35:4-35, Matthew 25:14–30
“Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded.” —Exodus 35:10
When American Chopper took reality TV by storm back in 2003, I became a fan. At the time we were running our BreakawayTV program on satellite television featuring Christian extreme sports athletes and artists. There were some similarities to the program style with one really BIG exception—We didn’t get discovered by Discovery Channel!
For some odd reason, a dysfunctional family of metal fabricators working hard together to create high-end custom choppers while bantering back and forth resonated with many fans as the show’s ratings surprised. The entire creative process from design, to fabrication, to assembly, to unveil, gave each episode a unique delight. I think one of the main reasons for its success was the fact that these humanly relatable broken people were creating such blissful bikes. Misfit creatives vulnerably bled their flawed personalities on air while each episode ended up feeding clients and audiences with the inevitable blinged out beauty.
It was as if American Chopper was about God’s redemption story more than the producers cared to realize.
God has always used skillful yet humanly flawed creatives to create aesthetics that feed the world with beauty. We might describe Bezalel and Oholiab as the “American Chopper” personalities of the Old Testament, though perhaps without the handlebar mustaches and ripped muscle shirts. They were the Israelite craftsmen commissioned to build the Tabernacle, the holy tent where God dwelt among His people. God filled them with His spirit and gave them extraordinary skills to create the Tabernacle and its furnishings.
God’s Spirit empowered Bezalel and Oholiab with talent and intelligence, giving them the ability to work in every kind of crafting, including woodwork, stonework, metalwork, engraving, embroidery, and weaving. Bezalel himself constructed the Ark of the Covenant, and they were divinely inspired to share their knowledge and skill sets with others.
We serve a God of beauty and design. Bezalel and Oholiab teach us about the importance of using our skills and gifts for the glory of God, rather than robbing God of His glory by using them for worldly outcomes or self-serving acclaim. If we think our talents originated within us and therefore belong to us, we will end up wasting them. When we remember they come directly from God, we will live with more intentionality in serving the God who gave us those talents and we will want to seek out His divine blueprints for our creative work.
In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30), Jesus taught his disciples how to rightly view their gifts (“talents”)—as God-given abilities merely loaned to us for a short season to make a positive impact on the world. Jesus didn’t want his followers to let their talents lie dormant but instead to utilize them to their fullest potential, to steward them with rightful accountability, and to take necessary risks in fleshing out those talents for Christ’s kingdom influence.
What talents and skill sets has God given you to create a beauty that feeds the world with joy while reflecting His glory? Are you recognizing those abilities as God-given and of heavenly origin? If so, how will you seek to abide in Him as you go about our daily craft this week?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you for the skills and talents you have given me. Keep me from robbing you of your glory in my life by thinking my gifts belong to me instead of being stewarded to me. Protect me from using these talents for self-serving gains or vain worldly ambitions, but always to use them for your glory and pleasure. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion:
- What is the most creative thing you have ever done? What was the process and how did you feel seeing the result?
- When you read Exodus 35, who else besides Bezalel and Oholiab do you see using their skill sets for God?
- When you read the Parable of the Talents, with whom do you most identify? To the ones who heard “Well done, good and faithful servant,” for what were they commended by their master?
- Whether you see yourself as talented, creative, skillful, or neither, what does it mean to be “faithful over a little”?
- Have you been guilty of robbing God of His glory in your life? What might repentance look like this week?
