I challenge you to read the title of this article again and think
about it for ten seconds.
As a Christian writer, what is your goal in writing? Do you
simply want to share good stories? or do you want to impart to your readers
truth?
Many young Christian writers admit that they do not just
want to write the moral stories they find themselves churning out, but they
want to share God's truth. But many of them are clueless in how to do this. And they surely do not
want to sound like those stiff books in which all of the characters are well-behaved,
memorizing hundreds of verses a day, mourning over an ounce of sin, and living
an impossibly perfect life (okay, so perhaps that is an exaggeration).
As I pondered this situation, I realized something: how can
we write good, solid Christian books if we are not striving to live a good,
solid Christian life? How can we impart to our readers truths from God's Word
if we do not even know what these truths are?
So often, we get so wrapped up in the writing process that
we neglect our writing purpose. To write Christian stories, we must be grounded in God's Word. This
does not mean to merely look up a few verses if your character is learning
about forgiveness. What does your daily devotion life looks like? Are you actively reading, memorizing,
studying, and learning from God's Word?
In writing, does your plot detract from the message? Is
there an element in the story that pulls your reader's attention away from
Christ and places it on something that is but to fade away? Is your message
clear? or will your writer come away with, "Well ... she quoted a lot of
Bible verses..."? You do not have to strive for some big, theological
truth. What lessons has God taught you? Those are important lessons too that
you can share with others.
As you ponder these questions, I encourage you to pray for
God's direction in your writing. What truths would He have you to teach? Which
Scriptures would He have you to use? May He lead you as you seek Him and may
all of your writing bring glory to His Name!
Extra: Many novels are
written today under the name "Christian," but if God is only
mentioned once or twice and prayed to only during troubles, can it really
qualify for a "Christian" book?
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