Top 7 Bible Verses About Creativity or Being Creative

Top 7 Bible Verses About Creativity or Being Creative January 11, 2015

Here are 7 of my favorite Bible verses on creativity.  Which ones would you include?

God’s Gifts to Men

God is the One Who gives gifts to men and women such as creativity.  Solomon didn’t ask for wealth but for wisdom and God gave it to Him.  God has given each one of us certain gifts of creativity.  It is up to us to discover them and then utilize them for His glory.  God never asks us to do something that He doesn’t give us the ability to do so each of us have been endowed by our Creator to have specialties in differing areas, just as He has given each member of the Body of Christ gifts of the Spirit.  It is my hope that these verses will show you that we all have creativities in areas that God has given to us for particular purposes and as always, they are intended to glorify God.

Exodus 35:30-33 “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with allcraftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft.”

Bezalel was given special abilities and talents to work in a creative manner on the construction of the tabernacle of God.  These creative abilities included intelligence, knowledge, and skill in his craft.  God expected Bezalel to pass along these abilities and so He “inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer” (Ex 35:34-35). It was the Lord that gave Bezalel these creative gifts and God expected him to teach these skills to others (Ex 35:34-35).

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Just as with Bezalel, we are God’s workmanship and we were created for the purpose of glorifying God in good works.  These works were “prepared beforehand” for us so “that we should walk in them” or so that we should do good things for Christ.  That’s why the church is called the Body of Christ.  We are to be His hands, feet, voice, eyes, and to be a body doing what Christ would be doing if He was here in His physical presence on earth.  He is the Head and we are to be His Body and as His body, we are to be doing what He has sovereignly appointed us to do.  We were created as His workmanship to be His working in the lives of others.

First Kings 3:12 “Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.”

Solomon could have asked for wealth, he could have asked for power, but Solomon asked for wisdom and a discerning mind and God honored that request saying that there would be “none like you” who has been so wise as him, either before or after him “so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days” (1 Kings 3:13b).  Since Solomon asked for something more valuable than riches, God promised to give him a long life (1 Kings 3:14) and “both riches and honor” (1 Kings 3:13a).

Proverbs 22:29 “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”

Bible Verses About Creativity

A man or woman who is skillful in his or her work will not go unnoticed by the Lord.  Just to have a skill is one thing but to use it in their work is altogether different and those who have such creative skills will be noticed by God and “will not stand before obscure men” meaning that they’ll be noticed by those in the world as well. A talent that is buried is useless but a skill that is utilized displays the glory of God who gives to all those special abilities, talents, and creative skills.

First Timothy 4:14-15 “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.  Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”

Paul tells Timothy and us that a gift can be neglected if it’s not utilized.  What good is a gift of creativity if it cannot be shared?  The concept in these verses is that this gift must be practiced and the person must immerse themselves in their use of them.  If they do, “all may see [our] progress” and may glorify God Who, again, is the giver of all such gifts of creativity.

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

We were created for work and if we work heartily and do it “for the Lord” knowing it really isn’t “for men” that we do it, we will receive an “inheritance as [our] reward” because in reality, we “are serving the Lord Christ” and not humans.  This word for “heartily” in the Greek is “ek” and is a preposition…that is, it depends upon the effort that we put into it; therefore the impetus is upon us to do whatever we are doing in life in a wholehearted effort.

Ecclesiastes 9:10-11 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

This is similar to Colossians 3:23-24 in that whatever we are doing, we are to be doing it with everything we’ve got.  Today is the day for us to use whatever strength we have in the place where God has sovereignly placed us.  In this life only can we utilize our creativities for His glory because after we pass from this earth, we can no longer do what we had opportunity to do while living here.  In other words, we must take advantage of our time here on earth to work for His glory and to give it our all.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that every one of us has special skill and abilities and it is up to us to utilize them.   When my children were young, they displayed some very creative ideas in making things which is evidence that all of us have certain abilities even from our youth.  What do you believe is your creative skill or ability?  In what ways do you utilize them at work, at home or in the church?  Leave a comment to tell us what creative gifts or abilities you have and how you use these in your life.

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Jack WellmanArticle by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon


Browse Our Archives