The Temptations of an Artist

Can you “sell your soul to the devil” to become a great artist? Legend has it Robert Johnson stood at the crossroads at midnight to sell his soul to the devil. He thereby became the classic icon of blues guitar he is today. This famous legend raises the question: is it possible to “sell your soul to the devil” in the quest to become a great artist? Of course when we imagine the devil as a funny red man with stubby horns, four legs and an inexpensive pair of black tights, it’s a pretty humorous scene. It also seems pretty distant to our present reality as artists.


Yet Jesus temptation in the desert, in Luke 4, is the spittin’ image of the Artist at the Crossroads, being tempted to sell his soul to the devil. The One through whom the world was made stands in the wilderness, confronted by the one who seeks to un-create the world back into darkness and chaos. It is a crossroads for the direction of Jesus’ ministry, and for the future of the creation he was sent to redeem to God. I believe there are some immense implications here for our temptations as artists as we look at Christ, the Grand Artist, standing before the Un-creator. We’ll take a look at what his temptation consists of, how it shows up specifically in our lives as artists, and what it means to “walk in his steps” to overcome.



The three temptations of Jesus we might sum up as: “bread”, “authority”, and “the wow factor” (thanks to our pastor Rick for some of this insight in his recent sermon).

• Bread = money. The world needs bread. If you could turn stones to bread you could not only feed your own hungry self, you could feed the nations, feed the world. Jesus could end world hunger. The ability to turn stones to bread would be a good thing. But to do so he has to sell his soul and give up on God’s timing, hand over the creation to the Un-creator.
I think as artists this shows up in the temptation to give up on our convictions in the need for sustenance. We need to eat. We need to make a living, and the term “starving artist” didn’t get popular for nothing. We need bread, dough, money, today. Money is today’s equivalent of bread, its not for nothing they call it “bread” or “dough”. Its what we need to survive on and make us “full”. And when we’re hungry its easy to want to sell our integrity to make a quick buck. Trusting God and giving him glory is a lot tougher when the bank account is empty.

I spoke recently with a friend of mine who works in advertising who had really wrestled with some of the products he was attempting to sell. He wrestled with the legitimacy of the Oregon Lottery, a client he had done a major campaign for. Were their practices ethical? With some of his salon product clients, was he trying to make people feel crappy about the way they looked in order to present this product as their Savior? He could make lots of money taking these accounts and the family needed money. These are difficult questions and I’m not saying the answers are simple, but he was convicted that he would no longer take on clients whose practices he found he could not align ethically with, even if it hurt financially. He likewise committed to making ads that didn’t rely on making people feel crappy about themselves in order to sell a product. He would have to trust God to get more creative. God has provided greatly for him and his business has attracted a large clientele of ethical products he can come behind in good conscience.
The temptation to “turn these stones to bread” today means to sell out our integrity to make a buck. Trusting God and giving him glory means we will stand tall when times are tough and look to God for our sustenance in his good time and hold on to our integrity in our work.

• Kingdoms = Name. Jesus is tempted with the kingdoms of the world. Wouldn’t the world be a lot better place if Jesus was in charge? As the New Testament makes clear, Jesus is actually in authority over the world. God has exalted him to the highest place and it is at his name that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is lord. He is being tempted with something that is in fact the reality of the coming world and is a good thing. But Jesus receives his name from the Father, not by bowing to the Un-creator. For a time the Un-creator has been given reign, and Jesus must not seek making a name for himself for its own sake, but staying true to his mission for the glory of the Father.

As artists I think this shows up in the temptation to bypass sacrifice, training and discipline to merely pursue a quick & easy name for ourselves. Many artists have made a name for themselves in history: Warhol. Picasso. Michelangelo. The irony is they didn’t seem to do so by trying to make a name for themselves. Rather, they loved the art, pursued it with passion and devoted themselves to their craft. The name followed the genius with which they blessed the world.


The order is important. The temptation as artists is always to flip the order. We want the glory without the sacrifice. The masterpiece without the discipline and training. The resurrection without the cross. The irony is if our desire to make a name for ourselves is given a higher priority than a simple love of the art and desire to glorify God and give to the world in our lives as artists, than the integrity of our art is destroyed.


If we prioritize our glory, we generally destroy our art. It becomes something different than it would have been otherwise. If Christ had ruled over the kingdoms of the world by brute force and aligned himself with the devil, it would be a different kind of reign. There is something crucial to the type of reign Christ exhibits that is modeled in servitude, suffering and sacrificial love of the other. God establishes Christ’s reign when it is fulfilled through redemptive and sacrificial love for the world, rather than the pursuit of his glory over the world. As artists, the pursuit of God’s glory over our own is crucial to living lives of integrity as artists. Do we do what we do for the glory of God or to make a name for ourselves? Its easy to give in to the latter when the name is so appealing. But the way a name is truly made for oneself is when it is not the priority.

• Jump = Fame. Jesus is finally tempted with what we might call the “wow” factor: if you’ve ever seen someone jump from the Empire State Building, get caught in mid-air by the grand heavenly host, and land like a cat on all your feet, then you know what I mean. People applaud, crowds looking for a sign are pretty impressed. All the world will be amazed. Jesus can really draw the crowds and have them drooling for more if he gives into this one.

I think as artists this shows up in our willingness to sacrifice our integrity for fame: to have the audiences clamoring for more. Perhaps the most difficult addiction for some artists is this desire for fame, for applause. To be admired and have everyone look up to us and love us. Michael Scott in The Office is a hilarious example of this: he is entirely driven by the desire for people to like him, to think he’s a cool boss, and he makes an idiot out of himself in order to do it. His role as a manager becomes subservient to the desire to become ‘cool’ and liked by everyone.


When I get really honest with myself I have a lot more of Michael Scott in me than I’d like to admit. When I’m preparing to give a talk its easy for me to immediately become obsessed with “what will people think of me?” “will they like me?” “will they think my ideas are meaningful?” How many of us as artists are locked in a standstill because we’re afraid to put the pen to paper and have our ideas bare-naked before the world? The question: “what will people think?’ is the strongest instigator of writers-block known to man. Our fear of what people will think keeps us from growing more fully into mature artists in our craft.


Likewise, in a desire to have people like us and fulfill their expectations, we’ll often sell out our integrity as artists and as people of God. (If you’ve seen Extras, season two, in the scene where Ricky Gervais gives in to wearing the wig & glasses & parroting the catch-line is a classic example of the mental anguish of selling out, as David Bowie is plenty quick to let him know in a later episode). Of course everyone points to corporate culture, California party culture, or frat culture for “selling out” in a desire to be liked, successful and accepted, but I believe it is perhaps more sinisterly present in much of the arts’ anti-fame culture.


Take for example the hipster phenomenon. I’ve become convinced that the whole hipster phenomenon is driven more than any other factor by this “Michael Scott” phenomenon. I love Portland to death, yet I feel in it like I am surrounded by a city of urban hipsters who are addicted to what people think of them. We’re obsessed with what we don’t wear, what brand names we’re not identified with, how we look when we go out, not in the usual “prettied up” forms but almost as an “anti-style”. Of course, for many it comes under the guise of a subtle indifference, a façade of “I don’t care what people think of me”, but its such an obvious and thin cover for a more unkempt version of Michael Scott, unshaven with matted hair and retro clothes crying out to meet the new rules of cool and be looked up to. And we’re often some of the most cynical, pessimistic, and depressingly miserable folks around.


From the California hotties to the Northwest hipsters, we’re a generation totally sold out to “jumping off the cliff” if people will be into it, if it will get us the “wow” factor, and make a name for ourselves as cool and admired. Following Christ means giving up on the “cool” game attempting to wow the world, and frees us to be more truly creative and freely ourselves.

Jesus is tempted with good things: feed the world, rule justly, draw all men to himself in glory. But in the wrong time and way. Similarly, its good to make a living as artists, to have a name established for our work, to be blessed with a following and reputation. But the temptation is to sell our integrity and marginalize our devotion to God in our pursuit of these things. Prioritizing God frees us to be more truly ourselves in our artistic pursuit.