Each year, the television industry goes through a seasonal process of cancelling and renewing shows. This process is guided by a rating system that studies demographics, viewership and reach. A show is usually cancelled when the ratings do not match the expectations of the network, no matter how many or few seasons the show has been on the air.
If God had a network that operated according to this type of process, would your worship service match HIS expectations? What kind of ratings would you get from God regarding your demographics, viewership and reach? Could God be too creative of a Creator to expect the same show on the same channel every weekend of every year? Would your worship service be cancelled and ‘dropped’ or renewed for another season? Would you need to make some cast, content or creative changes to live up to His expectations for His network?
We all serve the same creative Creator! He is so creative that there are no two people on earth with the same fingerprints or footprints. Not even identical twins have the same exact DNA or personalities. We all have different images, voices and capabilities.
“In the beginning, God created…” Genesis 1:1
According to a study published by the University of California’s Museum of Paleontology, there are 250,000 described species of plants, 12,000 described species of roundworms, 4,000 described species of mammals and over 350,000 species of beetles described, with many believing that there are more beetles yet to be discovered!
Psalm 104: 24-25 says, “How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-living things both large and small.”
As God made so much and so many so distinctively different, it just seems that sameness could bore Him as the Chief Creative Officer of the Universe. The word ‘create’ is a verb that means to cause to come into existence or to produce through artistic and imaginative effort. The word ‘creative’ is an adjective defined as having the ability or power to produce characterized by originality and expressiveness.
Through these definitions, it is evident that God created us (brought us into existence) to be creative (produce originality).
Moreover, the word of God encourages us to be creatively renewed. Multiple times, there is a request for new music, a new song and a new sound.
Psalm 40:3 says, “He put a new song in my mouth…”
Psalm 96:1 says, “Sing unto the Lord a new song.”
Isaiah 42:10 says, ” Sing a new song to the Lord.”
Throughout God’s creation, we witness His desire for a multiplicity of sounds. After all, it is Him who decided the dog would bark, the cow would moo, the cat would meow and the owl would ask, “who?”
Could a God so creative expect there to be only one kind of worshipper? Could a God so creative expect there to be only one style of teaching or preaching in our churches? Could a God so creative be pleased with the predictability of our annual church calendar events year after year? Could a God who integrates the diverse living things He created, expect us to separate and segregate our styles to appease one proposed appetite or preference at a time?
God has commanded us to be imitators of HIM, not each other! (Ephesians 5:1)
Author John Mason said, “You were born and original. Don’t die a copy.”
Understanding that we serve an omnipresent God, we know that God is present at all of our worship services, but in His perfect attendance, could a God who created so many different beings be bored with the same show?