“No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

Thinking as I do about meaning and purpose and Biblical answers, I’ve wondered a lot about basic design in human beings. What, at base, are people wired to do? And there is that age old question: why are we here? It seems within the question lies the answer itself. Naturally, we are here to do. But do what?

Revisiting Scripture, creativity and productivity are particular threads that run through the narrative, suggesting they provide a chief purpose for each human life. Consider Genesis and the creation passages:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1

Creation is the fount of God’s activity- making something from nothing.

“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27

In his image- in likeness to His nature and being- God then created human beings, in a large way to be a reflection of His nature and persona.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28

And in creating them, God gave them several charges: be fruitful; manage the earth; oversee life on the globe.

Being fruitful and bearing fruit continue to be ongoing commendations in Scripture.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (Psalm 1:1-3)

And in the Gospels…

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
John 15:1-2

There is a precedent in Scripture for God delighting in fruitfulness, which certainly suggests that our fruitfulness as people is a major source of His delight. When we create and craft and make, we emulate His nature. We were made to be constructive and productive. In this logic, Paul can forward this suggestion:

“And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
1 Thessalonians 4:10-12

Understanding the significance of being a productive person as it relates to God and His nature helps us to understand and appreciate the value of work in our lives, as indeed work was supposed to be part of our lives. That Satan cursed man’s labor in Genesis 3:19 speaks to the notion that work was intended to be part of our lives, and in that, a good thing. Why else would Satan curse such activity if it was not supposed to be a pertinent and central application of our existence?

Being able to answer the question “What am I here for?” provides us with some suggestions as to how the human heart and spirit work. If we are indeed crafted to be creators and producers, then hidden within those actions is part of the satisfaction we seek in life. Indeed, productivity does bring its own personal rewards to the producer, besides the material or intellectual benefits creativity makes. Confidence and competence are two significant benefits to note.

And if productivity is meant to be a normal aspect of our lives, then when we are not productive, there lies within that paucity possible seeds for inner discontent and depression. Creating is a marvelous medicine for the soul in its own right.

I think productivity can be in any form or medium. One may craft with their hands, and another with their head, but what matters within both of them is that they each create so that they contribute, either to their own well-being, or to their family’s, or their communities. Productivity has real world results which benefits one or many in tangible ways- be it through paints or pennings, or cooking or computer programming.

What seems clear here, though, is that God made you and I to bear fruit.

People are meant to be productive.