The Bible does not give us “Ten Commandments of Creativity,” but it does provide ideas and examples of how to think, trust, worship, communicate, and live out our faith. Many of these general principles can apply very specifically to our creative work. Whether you write, paint, sing, craft, teach, or negotiate corporate mergers, you can glean guidance from the Bible’s pages.

This chapter includes four “biblical principles,” culled from the dozens you can find in your own study of Scripture. These principles are valuable guidelines for life and faith in general, but they’re especially helpful in the creative process, as we employ our God–given skills to honor and emulate the work of the one who created us.

Grab what you’re given.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Romans 12:6–8

Some Bible teachers draw a sharp line between talents and spiritual gifts. These verses in Romans, they say, refer to spiritual gifts, the fifteen or sixteen abilities specifically mentioned in a few key passages of the New Testament (such as 1 Corinthians 12:4–31, Ephesians 4:11–13, 1 Peter 4:10–11, as well as this Romans 12 text). No matter how well you play the guitar, according to this view, that’s not your spiritual gift—though you might use your gift of faith by jamming with the worship band at church.

While that distinction can be helpful, it’s also true that we can surely extend the general principle of this passage in Romans 12 to all the abilities God gives us. If God has given you skill in painting, then paint. If he made you a dancer, dance. If the Creator wired your brain in such a way that you sit in planning meetings and come up with “the crazy idea that just might work,” then do that.

Jesus once told a story of three servants who received large sums of money from their master, who was heading off on a journey (Matthew 25:14–30). Two of the servants invested the sums and turned a profit. But the third was afraid of losing the money, so he buried it in the ground. When the master returned, he rewarded the two risk–taking servants and punished the timid one (Matthew 25:24–27).

What was Jesus saying here? A central characteristic of parables is that they allow various interpretations, making them both fascinating and sometimes perplexing. In this case, maybe Jesus was challenging the religious leaders (as he often did) to use their God–given positions for good purposes, or maybe he was encouraging the common folk to stop being paralyzed by fear. But could we also draw a lesson from this story about creativity? Let’s look at the nuts and bolts.

The master gives something of value to three servants, and two of them use it to create more value. Fear keeps the third servant from doing that, and he receives the punishment he feared all along. In many parables, the one in charge is a God–figure. Could Jesus be talking about the resources, power, abilities, and spiritual gifts that God has bestowed on certain people? Could he be challenging us to use all of this rather than bury it?

Many gifted people seem uneasy with their abilities. Many with creative ideas are afraid to express them. Perhaps they fear failure or judgment or, like the servant in the parable, they fear they might displease the Master. The consistent challenge of Scripture is to resist letting our fears paralyze us and instead go for it. Whatever your gift is, “if it is serving, then serve.” God has given us creative gifts to be used creatively, not buried. Grab what you’ve been given and do something good with it.

God has given us creative gifts to be used creatively, not buried.

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Sing a new song.

Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 33:3

People seem to like the old songs. Familiar strains conjure sweet memories. Some folks know the words by heart. Ask any musician going on tour after ten or twenty years in the business. They may have a slate of new tunes fresh from the studio, but the audience still clamors for the old hits.

This can be a frustration for creators of all sorts, and especially in the church. In many congregations (thankfully not all), innovators are often theologically suspect. New songs, new styles, new instruments, new art forms, new ideas, new methods, new orders of worship—why, there must be something wrong with them because they’re … new. There’s a pew of old–timers glaring, arms crossed, and muttering, “If the old ways were good enough for D. L. Moody, George Whitefield, and Martin Luther, they should be good enough for us.”

Except the old ways were not good enough for Moody, Whitefield, or Luther. Those three, like a thousand other leaders throughout history, challenged the old assumptions. They responded to the fresh breeze of God’s Spirit with new tactics, new styles, and yes, even new songs. With the help of his inventive songleader, Ira Sankey, Moody inspired new styles of evangelical worship. Whitefield, a popular preacher in the 1700s, exceeded the dramatic skill of the best actors of his day. Luther not only reshaped the church; he wrote songs for people to sing in their own language.

Try taking a stroll through Scripture, examining all the appearances of the word new. In a time of devastating loss, Jeremiah affirms that God’s mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). Jesus offers a new commandment, a new covenant in his blood, and a new birth (John 13:34; Luke 22:20; 1 Peter 1:3). In the book of Revelation, filled with fantastic beasts and vivid images, worshipers gather to sing “a new song,” and in its closing chapters, God announces, “I am making everything new” (Revelation 5:9; 21:5).

We are called to use our God–given gifts of creativity to respond to his new mercies with new songs, new visions, new thoughts, and new ways. If you’re a creator yourself, you feel the Spirit’s breeze, don’t you? You see new colors, hear new sounds. You envision new ways to do things. Keep going. Don’t be satisfied with the same–old same–old, the tried and tired, yesterday’s guacamole. Don’t let the naysayers hold you back. Follow the Spirit into new territory.

Don’t let the naysayers hold you back. Follow the Spirit into new territory.

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Be open to “whatever” (Philippians 4:8)

I’ve often used a trick question when leading a group study of Philippians. We get to that magnificent fourth chapter, the catch–all of apostolic advice, and we read verse 8:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Then I’ll ask, “What does this verse tell us not to think about?”

People usually jump in quickly to list the opposites of the virtues list in the verse. Surely, they say, we are being asked to avoid false thoughts, impure thoughts, etc.

Then I spring my trap. “No, it doesn’t tell us not to think about anything. There’s no negative in this verse at all. It merely lists things we should think about.”

What’s more, the repetition of “whatever” suggests that we don’t need all of these qualities wrapped up in the same subject. We might find a powerful truth in the story of a person who was far from noble. We can give our attention to loveliness wherever we find it. Or purity or excellence. This verse says “yes” to each of those qualities, not “no” to their opposites.

Bible teacher James Montgomery Boice also points out that the virtues listed in Philippians 4:8 were not the usual qualities found in Jewish or Christian teaching, but they do appear in secular Greek literature as standards of good living and ethics. So it seems this verse isn’t calling us to be more religious, but to embrace the most positive elements of the surrounding culture—those things through which the goodness of God and his creation shine through.

Boice writes: “The things that are acknowledged to be honorable by the best people everywhere are also worthy to be cultivated by Christians. Consequently, Christians can love all that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable, wherever they find it. They can rejoice in the best of art and good literature. They can thrill to good music. They can thrive on beautiful architecture. They should do it. You should do it. Christians can thank God for giving us the ability even in our fallen state to create such things of beauty” (Philippians, Baker, 2000, p. 249).

Do your creative work with soul (Colossians 3:23)

Singer Carla Thomas explained her musical specialty, soul music, this way: “This sound was just pulled from the gospel roots and the blues roots … and they tagged it ‘soul music’ because people just stood and sang from their guts, you know, whatever they felt, they just let it come out” (Quoted in Joel Rudinow, Soul Music: Tracking the Spiritual Roots of Pop from Plato to Motown [Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010], p.8.).

We can learn a lot from that explanation. While soul music is a wonderful art form all on its own, some of Thomas’s phrases can apply to any deeply creative process—drawn from the influences of faith and experience and delivered “from our guts.”

The New Testament puts it this way: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23–24).

The phrase “with all your heart” is literally “from the soul” in the original Greek. Some Bible versions use “heartily” or “wholeheartedly.” All of these terms capture the basic meaning of a crucial biblical concept. The soul in Scripture was not seen as a separate, disembodied spirit, but the center of human emotions, thought, and will. It is the core of one’s inner life. Whatever we do—not just creative endeavors, but those are certainly included—should come from that central space.

And our goal is not human applause but heavenly reward. From our grade–school recitals, we are programmed to wow the crowds, but Colossians reminds us that we have a higher audience to please.