The Over-Glamorized Life of Creatives (Aka: beware of envy!)

There tends to be this idea that the life of people who work in entertainment and media production is glamorous. Over the past year, I've been learning that this is not at all the case. Yes, media creation can be fun. Yes, it can feel really cool to have an audience and get compliments on your creative work. But the life of those who produce media and music is not all glory, fun, and sparkles. That is just the part we get to see.

In reality? My friends in video production spend more time tediously editing footage, hunting for inspiration, and keeping up with sponsorship connections than they do acting and filming. My friends in the music industry have endless practice sessions and constant nights sleeping in rented tour buses and hotel rooms. It takes an entire day for the team to set up for concerts and then they might stay up half the night loading crates into trailers in the rain. The writers in my life have to devote huge amounts of time to marketing their work while they hope and pray it sells enough for them to make a few dollars. And me? I just spent a solid six hours editing a single podcast episode and am about to start hunting down web links for the show notes.

It's easy to assume someone's life is all fun and games when you look at the surface. It's easy to envy someone when you make assumptions. But as Christians, we are to break away from envy.

Galatians 5:19-21 states envy in the list of lifestyles that are displeasing to God and uncharacteristic of His children:

"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Not only that, but envy even has the potential to drive one into poor health, according to Proverbs:

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. - Proverbs 14:30

What or who do you envy? Is it truly worth it?

Diligent or Slothful?

"Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth." - Proverbs 12:27

There are three big questions for us to ask ourselves as we ponder this little proverb:

1. What are you doing diligently in your life?
2. Is your diligent work in one area causing you to be slothful in other more important areas?
3. What “precious wealth” will be gained from the activities we are most diligent in?

Upon first glancing at this passage, it is easy to let our minds go directly to the world of work and monetary gain. But there is another type of “precious wealth”; many times throughout scripture (particularly in Psalms and Proverbs) the love and knowledge of God is referred to in terms of wealth and treasure. In the end, that is the only type of “precious wealth” that will stay with us past the grave, and therefore, the most precious of all wealth we could gain.

Where does your relationship with God fall in the order of things you are most diligent in?

The Sunday-school answer we instinctually deliver is “God is at the top!” but take a closer look; is He really? Does He frequently occupy your thoughts? Does He take priority over everything else you need to spend time on in a day? Be honest. When I asked myself these questions, I had to admit, God often gets shoved to the “I’ll get to this later” list all too often.