There’s an old saying that goes, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.”
As wonderful as it sounds to actually find a job you love, few of us ever do and many of us wind up just tolerating our present jobs while hoping to land something better down the road. So much for creating what you love.
The sad part about that scenario is that we often miss the blessings of a good job (the one we actually have) while longing for the “dream job” that we think will fulfill all of our fantasies about being valued, creative, and highly functioning while making great money. I know, because I want that job, too.
But the truth is this: We’re already valued to the highest possible degree by the Highest Possible Power in all of creation and beyond. I memed the other day that, “Telling God how worthless you are is like telling Him that Jesus made a really big mistake.” There’s simply no greater worth than can be afforded us than the sacrifice of Christ. The problem is that we’ve heard it so much that it has lost its punch. It’s become commonplace to those of us who’ve spent a lot of time in church and sometimes we don’t feel it for as real as it is.
But, as Christian songwriters, feeling Jesus’ love in fresh ways is the only thing that’s going to help us stay in the creative zone and write anything anyone’s ever going to want to hear or sing. Period. You can’t fake inspiration. A lot of people try, but there’s something about their words that ring hollow or fall flat. The writers who write lasting songs all have this in common. They have a deep, abiding intimacy with Jesus that always shows up in their songs. They’re writing what (Whom) they love.
In our new online coaching course, I was writing a section about America’s hymn writer, the great Fanny Crosby. She was so passionate about Jesus she wrote over 8,000 songs about Him. Then, she rededicated her life at age 60 to serve the homeless and hurting. She died in her 90’s and served to the end. That’s real passion. That’s creating what you love.
Loving Jesus from your deepest heart is the only way you’ll ever write amazing and beautiful  things about Him. And the only way you’ll ever love Him from your deepest heart is to know He loves you from His. Creating what you love means creating from what you love, that very deep and real Presence of Jesus in you. Nothing else really matters and nothing else will reach the hearts of your hearers like creating what you love and loving what you create.
