Regarding Inspiration

Google defines inspiration as “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” Not bad, Google! I agree. It seems to me that inspiration is essential to human flourishing in general and for artists in particular since our vocation revolves around “doing something creative.”

I found it interesting that both dictonary.com and merriam-webster.com also attached inspiration to God: “A divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.” The zenith of this concept is, of course, men being inspired by God to write Holy Scripture as described in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” Inspired in this verse is theopneustos in the original Greek and it means “God-breathed” (theo for God and pneustos for breath/ed). The imagery is gorgeous – Scripture-writers received mouth-to-heart inspiration from God for their task.

Certainly, Scripture-writers were inspired in a very unique way to “do something creative” as they wrote Scripture. Without diminishing this stunning fact, on a purely artistic level we must remember that Scripture-writers were, well, writers. They were poets, story-tellers, historians, prophets, and more. And though all their writings are absolutely unique in the most extreme ways, they were still, in a word, artists.

In this light, could it also be said that all true inspiration – meaning “all inspiration that’s pure and good and beautiful” – is, in at least some sense, “God-breathed?” I know that I feel something deep in my heart when I am being inspired to create something pure, good, and beautiful. Could this be a small sense of theopneustos? Could I be receiving, in some small way, mouth-to-heart stimulation from God?

I want to be careful here. I don’t want to imply in even the tiniest sense that I or any other human being was, is, or ever will be inspired the same way Scripture-writers were inspired. Never! I’m merely suggesting that there may be a divine connection that takes place in the heart of a person who experiences inspiration to create something pure, good, and beautiful. As a Christian who’s an artist, I’d chalk this up to the work of the Spirit who lives in me through faith in Christ (1 Cor. 3:16). But even for non-Christians, perhaps this movement can be attributed to what theologians call God’s “common grace” – His kindness to all people despite our many demerits (Matt. 5:45).

In any event, these deep musings originated in my desire to express my gratitude to God for the incredibly inspirational time I had in Colorado recently. Being surrounded by and frolicking in that beauty was uniquely heart-lifting. If inspiration is receiving mouth-to-heart from God, then my time in Colorado was like being on a divine ventilator!

To conclude, let me re-share the message I attached to an Instagram post I made during my trip, “A word to artists: be sure to set aside time to simply be inspired and refreshed. It’ll do your heART good!”