There’s nothing wrong with Pinterest. It’s a fine service and many people obviously enjoy using it. It’s just that it’s killing something deep within you.

Years ago when I first heard all the buzz about this new social media site and its meteoric rise in popularity, I couldn’t wait to check it out. When I visited the site, however, I was disappointed. It seemed to me to be nothing more than a place to share browser bookmarks. I didn’t quite understand the attraction because anyone could share those very same items through every other social media outlet.

Much later, the real appeal of Pinterest finally dawned on me. It doesn’t require you to create anything yourself. All you have to do is pin things that other people have created or posted. It requires absolutely nothing new, unique, or original from you, and that’s the problem.

I believe God created you and placed you on this planet to create something, to do something, to make something. He gave you an assortment of gifts, and a specific calling, with an eye on using you to bring forth something truly unique into this world.

He may want you to write, paint, sing, sculpt, speak, bake, build, or dance – or any number of other things – but He certainly wants you to do something, to create something.

You may not like the title but you are an artist and, regardless of your medium of choice, God wants you to make your art. He wants you to make something, lots of things actually, and make a difference in this world while you’re doing it.

God never envisioned you entering this world only to leave it sometime later with nothing to mark your passing through. He wants you to leave an indelible mark through your art. He created you to create works of art that will delight, inspire, and challenge.

The problem with Pinterest is that it allows you to feel like you’re doing something when you aren’t. Like all social media, it’s just too easy to re-post, re-tweet, and re-pin without ever really contributing anything along the way.

The challenge is to move past just regurgitating what has already been made and create the art you were made to make.

Start a movement. Craft a sermon. Paint a painting. Photograph a portrait. Build an organization. Write a book. Just, please, don’t let your art die inside of you.

God put you and your gifts here now because we need you now. We need your art now.

Leave your mark. Make your art. Be who you were made to be.

(And, let others pin links to what you’ve made.)