Beyond Me

I thoroughly enjoyed the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit and I highly recommend that everyone go see it. But, one screen disturbed me greatly and I cannot stop thinking about it. It had an excerpt from one of the hundreds of letters Vincent Van Gogh sent to his brother Theo during his lifetime. 

I looked it up and read the entire letter. While this man was immensely talented and is one of the most famous artists ever; while his grandfather was a minister and he was even a missionary for a brief season; while he even was said to have spent a brief time translating Scripture into other languages, when he found his true calling in life to be art, he found it necessary to choose either God or his art. 

He wrote on Sept 3, 1888:

"Ah, my dear brother, sometimes I know so clearly what I want. In life and in painting too, I can easily do without the dear Lord, but I can’t, suffering as I do, do without something greater than myself, which is my life, the power to create."

Why would it be that he felt he had to choose between the Lord and art? Why not both? Isn't the Creator the One who puts creativity in all of us, even the unregenerate, as evidenced by the Holy Scripture in Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image."? 

Why would Van Gogh say that that which greater than himself is his "life, the power to create?" Yes, he was a very creative and talented artist, but he did not create anything that God did not give him the ability to create. (see John 1:3 and Colossians 1:15-17) And, it was not his life that is bigger than himself, it is the Lord, whom he says he can easily do without. 

This quote made me sad. He was only 35 when he made this statement, and he died two years later. I do not write off the man's work for it, because his art is good. And, I do not presume to know the state of his heart upon his leaving this life and facing God in eternity. But, if he knew Jesus and is in His presence today, he basically took the credit for the incredible talent he had been given instead of attributing it to the Creator, God, for whom it is due. And, if he did not know Jesus, well, his life here on earth was as good as it gets, for all of eternity, for him, and given his many years in mental hospitals and "suffering" as he wrote, I'd say, that was not much to speak of. He is in God's hands now; the very One he said he could easily "do without." 

Do you know Jesus? Would you like to know the God who creates us and gives all our gifts and talents? Would you like to know someone who is greater than you, even greater than your life and your abilities? Message me and I'll share with you how you can get to know this God. You may think you can "easily do without the Lord" but its beyond me why anyone would want to.