There is always a certain degree of arrogance when one sits down to write. Think about it. I currently am writing with the assumption that what I am saying has enough value for the reader to care about it. Not only that, but that it carries enough weight that someone will get online, click over to my blog and use some of their life’s limited supply of minutes to read through what I am about to say. That statement alone could feed an ego for a while. And if we apply this to all artists: painters, musicians, actors, writers, public speakers (it’s an art, believe me) and the like, our world is filled with quite a few inflated egos. It’s almost as if arrogance precedes creation…but maybe arrogance might not be the right word.

Creation is something that usually gives expression to that which a person is passionate about. A musician will write a song about love. A painter will pay tribute to someone who has shaped their talent. An actor gives voice to a story that inspired them. So maybe it isn’t arrogance, but passion? Can passion be confused with arrogance. I think it is all to quickly.

And what passion is at the heart of the mission of the church? That our message carries with it the weight of life and death. Hebrews 11:1 gives a certain voice to the importance of our faith message, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Words like assurance and confidence are often words that accompany what is conceived as arrogance…or in our case passion. I think however, that there needs to be more of an urgency to our passion. We need a few more passionate/arrogant people to give voice to our message through whatever means of creation they feel most comfortable with. I think if there was ever anything that I wouldn’t mind being accused of being arrogant about, it would be the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we create anew out of our passion for the Kingdom and truly become salt and light!