Tim Keller “Creation & Creativity” Clip from Redeemer Video on Vimeo.
At the risk of playing fast and loose with the rules of the social media posting theme “Throwback Thursday,” here is a clip of Tim Keller, founder and senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, discussing creation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in a talk entitled “Creation & Creativity.”
While the talk was given at the 2010 Entrepreneurship Initiative Forum, the truth it presents remains relevant for Christian entrepreneurs today. Keller’s main point: your worldview impacts the motivations behind your entrepreneurship.
Keller begins by talking about the original entrepreneur – God.
God was an entrepreneur. He brought something out of nothing. He brought order out of chaos. Why did he do it? He did it not because he had to, he did it because he wanted to. He did it for the joy of doing it.
He then explains how our view of creation influences our view of entrepreneurship.
- If you believe you are made in God’s image, and that God created the world in peace and love and for the delight of it, you too will create because you believe creating order out of chaos is a good thing in an of itself.
- If you believe the world is an accident, or the result of a power struggle, then you create not for the joy of it, but only because you have to in order to make a name for yourself and stay on top. Keller argues that eventually this will lead to drudgery, not passion, in entrepreneurship.
Success and competition in entrepreneurship aren’t always bad things, but it is interesting to think about what happens when they are the only things motivating our work. As Hugh Whelchel remarked in a recent podcast,
If you’re a Christian businessperson and you’ve been called to be in business, what is your ultimate goal? […] We work to bring about flourishing. And we can never lose sight of that.
Thinking about how our Christian worldview impacts our motives for creation and entrepreneurship is one way we can always keep sight of the ultimate goal of our work.
