A Closer Look at the Heart of Inspiration

I think there are a lot of times we walk away from something believing we are “inspired.”

Something impacts us and we rise up, ready to go, or do, or be. I wonder though, how often it is, that “inspiration” is, in reality, merely a pretty label for something more pernicious going on inside ourselves.

I wonder how often “inspiration” is actually covetousness.  

If that startled you, don’t worry. It startled me at first too. 😅

After all, when we think of being covetous, we often think of material goods. One may covet his neighbor’s boat, or his Cadillac, or his home. It rarely crosses our mind, that covetousness can, and often does, extend to immaterial things.

You can covet a person’s skill, qualities, characteristics, attention, appearance, esteem, personality, relationships, successes or opportunities, etc. There are a lot of things, besides physical objects, that can grip our fixation and make us wish we had what they have, or could be what they are.

When this hit me one day, I began to understand the gravity of “thou shalt not covet” in Scripture. It’s not simply about wanting possessions. As I mulled over the heart of what makes covetousness so awful, it made a lot of sense to me why this particular command made it to God’s “Top Ten.” (Exodus 20:17)

Covetousness is the antithesis of contentment. It is born in dissatisfaction and it commences a sort of endless comparison of yourself to others. Instead of embracing, with contentment, the life God has granted you, there is a discontented hunting for something better than what God has given you. To be something better or more impressive than what He orchestrated for you to be.

It initiates a sense of competition with fellow humanity. You need a little more of this and a little more of that to keep up. It sparks a senseless race that will distract, exhaust and overwhelm you. I recently saw a reel on social media, of a man imitating his wife. Wearing a shaggy wig, he began by saying, “Honey, I’m so overwhelmed! There’s so much going on!” He then proceeded to mimic the way she kept adding projects to herself, as she was “inspired” by things on social media. She ran herself ragged, remodeling everything to fit a certain aesthetic, baking the latest recipes trending on TikTok, piling on new hobbies and developing new skills. Struggling and striving to be better, do more, and keep up.

The result of covetousness is this false perception that you are heaping admirable assets upon yourself. In reality, this “heap,” regardless of how impressive it may seem to yourself or those around you, is largely useless. 

It is the love-child of selfishness. 

In the long-run, all those things are about… well… you.

When I think about this paradox of what it means to be inspired, my mind takes me back to the very beginning of my journey as a young wife. In the earliest days of our marriage, I found housework loathsome and tedious. I was frequently irritated when my hard work was undone, or seemingly under appreciated. Oh! How I hated doing something and then having to do it all over again because it didn’t “stay done.” The monotony felt stifling to me, and I would have greatly preferred to spend my time writing or earning money. There’s often a great pressure on women, to get outside the home to do something significant, and that got to me. I felt pretty inhibited in my role, and saw my domestic duties as an obstacle to fulfilling greater things. I spent an inordinate amount of time, in those early years, chasing all manner of “inspiration.” I exhausted myself on all kinds of extracurricular activities, and had very little left for my home and family.

In my heart of hearts, I just wanted to “matter.”

That was me pursuing the wrong kind of inspiration.

False inspiration. Unhealthy. Covetous of what I perceived others had, but I didn’t. Distracted entirely from what was right in front of me!

At some point in our marriage however, I spent an extended period of time reading the Epistles, and I discovered what love was meant to look like in every day life, and in every day relationships.

Through God’s Word, I learned, that love looks a lot like serving.

That inspired me and this truly became a turning point in my life!

At that juncture, I hung up all peripheral ambitions, and turned my attention to my home and family. Boring right? Some may be inclined to think so, but it wasn’t. Because my heart had undertaken a total shift. My heart was no longer geared toward fleeting approval. It was on how I could love those closest to me in the best way possible. In that light, piles of laundry and the recurring sink full of dishes, ceased from being drudgery and instead, became a great source of joy for me! Housework was redefined in my heart as a “limitless supply of opportunities to love and serve my family.” Even the most unpleasant tasks took on new meaning. I gave them my fullest and my best efforts, because these were now moments that I was serving Christ!

I think about the contrast of those two seasons of “inspiration”. One led to a bottomless pit of dissatisfaction and grief. The other, in time, yielded unquantifiable, precious fruit in our home. One left me so very empty. The other became a source of deepest fulfillment.

It gives one pause.

We are encouraged from childhood to “dream big” and aim for lofty successes, and we spend the course of our lives being “inspired” from one big thing to the next. Even in the modern church world, all fingers seem to be directing us to lofty “callings” and exciting “legacies” and spiritual grandeur. I think of things like this now, in light of God’s Word, and realize, more often than not, He’s calling us, not to climb the ladder, but to step down a peg. (Matt. 18:2-5; 19:30; 23:12) Not to chase rainbows, but to settle in contentedly, right where we are at. (1 Cor. 7:17-24) Not to deck ourselves with proverbial bells and whistles, but to hone in on demonstrating what is truly the heart of everything He purposes through us toward this world…to demonstrate and exhibit His love to the people right beside us. (1 Cor. 13) Consider Matthew chapter 6, where we find Jesus addressing the underlying propensity we have to want to “be like” the wrong people, and emulate the wrong things. He counters most of these unworthy aspirations with worthy ones (vs. 3-4; 6-15; 17-18) In each instance, righteous sincerity is never the bold or flashy option, but the quiet, unassuming one. 1 Thessalonians 4:8-12 compliments the sentiment of these examples. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands…”   

So what are we to do with “inspiration?” Should we shun the inclinations we have to improve this or that? I don’t think so. Sometimes, yes, but not always. I don’t believe there is anything inherently wrong with a worthy inspiration. There’s nothing wrong with developing a new skill, or improving character qualities, or even pursuing a variety of goals, if they don’t distract us from our priorities. I think the key, really, is discerning within ourselves, what motivates our aspirations. What do we seek to gain from the object of our desire?

As a recovering people pleaser, I now run all of my ambitions through that sieve of “motive detection”. The ones that are worth taking up are the ones that are detached, entirely, from the measuring stick of the world. I mean, I took up sewing this year. A new skill! This was not with the aim of asserting my worth. In times past, it may have been. This time, however, my desire to build this skill, was to counter a lifelong tendency of mine to quit. My former proclivity has been to flit from thing to thing, never taking the time to develop a legitimate competence anywhere. Last year, I was inspired by 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. Minding my own business. Working with my hands. Building character. Contributing. So I asked my husband for a sewing machine for Christmas. The idea was to zero in on a single thing, and keep at it.

And I have.

It’s been a humbling process.

The perfectionist being brought low, learning how to be bad at something, embracing the slow, steady process of improvement over instant success. Working hard and consistently towards a goal of producing items of quality, worthy of gifting or selling.

I see now, how pride will take an inspiration in one direction, and humility, in another. One directs us to bring things in, toward ourselves, the other is Christ-centered, and has a tendency toward flowing out! True, godly inspiration, is not going to stimulate an amassing of skills and assets that will make you feel more important and valuable to others. In fact, I tend to think that it is more likely to make you seem boring and unsophisticated to those around you. It’s very likely, to issue simplicity, to lead you to small, lowly, places. To cause you to go unnoticed. To be overlooked. To seem very little and unimportant. But an inspiration worth following, is one that is in tune with His Word. It’s design is to achieve His ends, by His means. It reflects the principles and spirit of Christ. It’s born from a place of love, it’s nestled in contentment. It’s quiet and unassuming, and as it comes to fruition, Christ’s love pours out of it.

It reminds me of Paul’s words to the Philippians.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant…” (Philippians 2:3-7)

God, Who created all things, becoming a servant to a pitiful, unworthy mankind!

And toward the end of the chapter, Paul reminds us, “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (vs. 13) (NIV)

He Who is highly exalted above all things, has purposes, and He is willing to fulfill those purposes through us! What amazing grace! Glory be to God!

This is the end I desire, and I hope that my heart will be ever-geared in this direction!

I cannot, for the life of me, fathom any ambition more worthy!

May He have His perfect will in and through us!