As a Christian writer, we have a greater responsibility to “rightly divide the word of truth” than just any other writer.
– 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Everything we write is mainly for this purpose: Express truth through a cast of characters who discover that truth throughout the process of the story. But expressing truth that isn’t cast as a light according to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ will not be rightly divided, therefore only bringing more wrath upon yourself.
But take courage. It is for this reason that God poured out His grace: so that He could pour His grace through you into the lives of others.
Therefore, if your story expresses some of the deepest truths imaginable (even if they seem to cross the line on what is considered dark), and it represents Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, then you are a powerful tool used by God Himself to draw the world to Himself.
Writing is not only a tool that God uses to change others. God can use writing to change the writer. Here’s a biblical example.
– 1 Chronicles 28:19 “All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.”
God used David’s act of writing to help him understand exactly how the temple was to be built. God used all the psalms David wrote to help both David and us understand the mind and heart of God.
The act of writing can be much more than just putting words on the page. It is a process by which we discover new things and process things that aren’t quite clear yet.
For example, horror novels were actually first written by Christian authors. Why? Because the authors struggled with fear and needed to write to understand how to overcome that fear.
When your characters are faced with challenges similar (at least in some ways) to the ones we face, their overcoming helps us process how we can also overcome.
Writing is a tool to change both the writer as well as the reader.
The act of writing is not just a simple process that happens automatically. It is an act that requires self discipline if you’re wanting to do it consistently.
For a Christian who, by God’s grace, is expressing truth through his stories, self discipline is a must. But it doesn’t come by itself or from your own strength. The Bible says self discipline (which also means the self discipline to write Christian books) is provided by God through the Holy Spirit.
-2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
-Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Self discipline is living proof of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life, since it doesn’t come from the world. In fact, everything in the world threatens to steal it away.
Practicing self discipline is the human response to trusting God in all things. It proves that you truly believe that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Writing is us being a representation of our Creator. Why? Because bearing the image of God means bearing and representing some of His characteristics. And since He is a creator of things, we are “co-creators” so to speak.
We bear the image of God when we take something and form it into something better. We make a rocky field into a garden, or a stick into a spear, or a rock into a hammer, or an empty apartment into a home, or a cow into a steak. The list could just go on and on. All of these things involve taking something that is already created and arranging it to improve it.
Writing is the closest thing a human can do to creating something from nothing.
The Bible says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Or, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Or, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).
We are made to create and dream. In doing this, we represent our Creator.
A writer gets the opportunity to explore truth through story.
Whether it’s the truth of forgiveness, redemption, overcoming fear, etc., a writer is given full liberty to put characters into situations and tell a story to understand the character’s reactions and personal growth. The tougher the challenge, the more relatable it is for readers.
Readers read books for many reasons. But one of the main reasons, although most of the time it’s only subconscious, is they want to experience a level of personal growth in their own life by applying what the character did to grow.
What does this mean for Christian writers? Regardless of the setting, you can put interesting characters into difficult situations and then write to find out what happens. If you set it up with a character-changing theme in mind, you will change (and readers will too) as the character does.
Use this to your advantage and write stories that point back to Jesus Christ, even if it’s only to one of His many amazing attributes.
P.S. If you are a reader (or maybe wish you read more but just don’t seem to find time to do so anymore), I encourage you to find a Christian author who writes in a setting you enjoy. Read with passion. Read with vigor. Read as though it were a command in the Bible, because it is.
1 Timothy 4:13 “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”
You’ll be surprised by how much you can improve your own character just by learning how others grow theirs.
Writing is much less an act of what we can do as people, but much more of what really goes on in our hearts. It’s the purest form of expression of character you’ll ever find. When a person writes a story with the purpose of using that story to discover truth that will help them grow as their story character grows, your story becomes God-glorifying.
Since most writers are also deep thinkers, they have a vision of what the world would be like if everyone’s character was perfectly developed. But since we live in a corrupted world, we know that this isn’t possible. We just use that vision in our stories to resolve the conflict as close to that point as we can.
But to all of you non-writers, especially those who have no desire to read or write, I want to remind you that you are not less valuable than anyone who thinks of themselves as a deep thinker.
God has given to everyone a gift. It’s up to us to discover that gift and work with full heart and full passion at it until God calls us back home.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 – There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Allow God to use whatever He has placed in your life, whether it be people or circumstances, as an opportunity of growth so that we can continue becoming more and more sanctified to the glory of God.
Jesus spoke in parables. Stories. Why? It’s actually quite simple. According to Christian author Ted Dekker, “Story is the shortest distance between the human heart and truth.”
Jesus used them to help His audience understand the principles behind the truth. Without telling a story to represent what the kingdom of heaven was like, the people simply wouldn’t have understood any of it.
God created humans to long for story everywhere we go. Whether we listen to a speaker. Whether we come home work and ask how someone’s day went. Whether we plan for an event. You get the point.
So for Christian writers, the goal isn’t to simply tell a story. The goal is to connect the reader’s heart to the truth by using the story as an example of transformation.
Readers, take this into account when you read a Christian book. Look out for the character’s transformation and see how you can apply the principle into your life.
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