The Artist & The Gospel: Money

Related Texts: Psalm 127:1-2, Matthew 6:24, Hebrews 13:5, Proverbs 23:4

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is the eighth of a multi-part series entitled “The Artist & The Gospel” where we will discuss what it means to be a “Christian Artist” who is sold out to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and wants their art to reflect their faith. You can read the previous installments by choosing the appropriate link below:
Part 1 // Created to Create
Part 2 // Deflecting Glory
Part 3 // Gospel-Infused Art
Part 4 // Mission-Oriented Art
Part 5 // The Easter Story
Part 6 // Rest
Part 7 // Depression
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It’s no secret that we need money. We need to pay our bills, we need to nourish our bodies, and if we have families we need to take care of them as well. As creatives, we have the unfortunate task of “selling ourselves” to somebody in order to generate an income. During my touring days I remember being so stressed out when we would get booked for a gig with a small, sometimes nonexistent, guarantee and didn’t see any merch. For small bands, like mine, we didn’t generate the income we needed based on album sales and streaming royalties, so we heavily relied on guarantees for live performances and merch sales. In order to earn those there was pressure to prove that our art was not only worth it, but that we were the right people to be hired as well. I needed to not only sell my “product”, but also my personality. All in an attempt to get a somewhat reasonable (usually not) paycheck.

What I’m trying to say is: I get it.

The hustle is hard for artists. There’s a general misconception that what we do for work isn’t really work at all. Those who do understand the amount of work it is usually are the ones who don’t have as much money to give, or don’t understand the market standard for our products.

As a quick aside, for anybody who is not an artist reading this, I’d like to point out a few details that you may not have considered when hiring or commissioning a creative. These are the reasons why the cost is higher than you might be imagining:

-Not only does your final work take time to make, but there’s also time involved in the concept creation and rough draft(s)
-The resources needed cost money, like paints and canvas (Even if you’re hiring a videographer who already owns reusable resources like video editing software and a camera, you’re still helping to pay for the tools being used)
-Just like with any employee, you pay more for higher experience and credentials. Have a composer who has done three short films and went to Berklee? He’s going to cost more than your friend’s nephew who has messed around with Garageband a little
-The point person you’re hiring may have their own staff or a whole team or rental equipment to pay for

And there are more I could continue listing, but this is a post meant for artists, so let me get back to the topic at hand.

Don’t get caught up in the hustle

My whole career I’ve been someone who puts in 110% into my craft and the final outcome of my efforts. If I’m being honest, it’s actually been both a strength of why I continue to get invited back to the same places over and over again while at the same time being a sensitive point in my marriage. Keeping my priorities aligned and my to-do list well organized has been crucial so that I don’t bring work home with me. It’s so easy to get locked into tunnel vision for hours at a time while I work and work and work and work and work, all the while neglecting my wife and my kids. Most artists I know have the same struggle. We get “in the zone”, we work weird hours, inspiration hits us at 11pm, we forget to eat or we need to find the quickest most convenient option so we can get back to work. It’s just too easy to get caught up in the hustle.

If we’re honest with ourselves, the projects we get most caught up in are the ones that we love doing. It’s not usually just because it’s a project that will give us a larger payout, but because it’s a project that allows us to explore our creative potential as well. We justify the time put in because the payout is larger, sure, but we prioritize it often due to the sheer excitement of the process that we get to indulge in. That over-indulgence and, I’m gonna say it, workaholism is so much more dangerous than we could even understand right away. It reminds me of a Psalm written by King Solomon:

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to His beloved sheep.” // Psalm 127:1-2 (ESV)

Now, might I pull a little bit of a Jesus juke on you: as a christian creative, are you simply creating out of your own desires and abilities and for a paycheck, or are you leveraging what you are doing for the Kingdom? Have you been creating and hustling because God Himself has called you to do so, or just for the same reasons why any other artist creates and sells and promotes him or herself? As the Psalm says “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” We need to keep aware that the Lord is at the root and is our driving force causing us to create!

“But I really need the money”

Now, there are some obvious real-life implications here. For one, there are some jobs that you take simply to pay the bills. I know for myself that there have been corporate events that I don’t see as my primary type of business, but I take the job because it helps me pay my rent. Is that all bad?

I’m reminded of a passage in Matthew where Jesus reminds us that “no one can serve two masters” and that “you cannot serve God and money” (Matt 6:24). Scripture is actually pretty blunt about the pursuit of money:

“Keep Your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'” -Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)

“Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.” -Proverbs 23:4

So how do we best handle these passages as humans who need money to afford to survive? Our perspective has to align with God’s, first and foremost. To take us back to the Psalm, are we relying on God for direction and vision for our lives? Have we been aligning ourselves with Him on a meta level, to the best of our abilities? If we can say “yes, I am doing what God has designed me to do and pursuing His person and His will” then we can step into the question that goes a level deeper. Like the Matthew passage, are we really serving God and not money? Is our money a resource that we own and utilize, or is the money owning and utilizing us? Jesus really brings the Psalm to life when He illuminates the impossibility and challenge to serve God and money. It’s like an automatic fail-safe. And it’s built upon by the passage in Hebrews, that we would pursue contentedness.

be content

The author of Hebrews brings up an important point, and if you aren’t careful you will miss it. When the author says “be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor foresake you.'” (emphasis mine) the point is being made for what is our primary objective of contentedness: the presence of our Lord. The very first thing that we must become content in is that we have God as our ultimate source of peace, rest, comfort, and all of our needs. After all, if we don’t have God then we have nothing.

After we find contentedness in having God and nothing else, then we can align our priorities properly. We can align with the Proverb to “not toil to acquire wealth” simply because we will 1) have all of our spiritual needs handled and 2) will align ourselves with what God wants from us. When we have both of those, the toil of work is so much less overwhelming. Even when I worked in the marketplace and hated my job, the effort I put in was equal to the perspective that I had that God had placed me there. I found contentedness (and wrestled with it almost every day, mind you) when I really trusted that God had placed me there for the time I was there. The toil was eliminated when my mindset was aligned with God’s.

There’s a lie floating around out there that if you just believe hard enough, pray the right words, and check off the duties of the christian that you will have all of your needs met. The best lies are sprinkled with a little bit of truth, because our needs really will be met! However, the lie comes in when we start to attribute that to comfort and a lack of challenges. The Prosperity Gospel is a lie, but the truth is this: that when we pursue God in all that He is and seek to align our mindset with His then we will have all that we need. Our priorities will align with His. Our perspectives on work and how we spend our time will be life-giving. We might still be tight on money month-to-month, but our hearts will be glad and our attitudes will shift from stress to trust.

So, sure, take the jobs that are offered to you that have large payouts. Accept the jobs that excite you, even when the pay is minimal. Get that bread, bring home the bacon, what have you. But even before any of that happens, ask yourself honestly: is my heart aligned with God’s?

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Kevin McClure has been leading worship in the local church for over 10 years in different capacities of student and adult ministries. As a songwriter, musical artist, and worship leader he has had the honor of touring the United States both as a performer and worship leader over the better part of the last decade. With a heart to see believers learn how to take the act of worship beyond the setting of a group gathering, Kevin is incredibly intentional with his time on and offstage to help teach the practice of worship as a lifestyle. Kevin lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his bride Hailey and his two daughters, Everleigh and Eliska. His favorite food is coffee (lifesource), loves bonfires, and is convinced that Jesus is a Chicago Cubs fan.