Send to Kindleby Suzanne Williams
I wrote a scene the other day and heard the voices protesting it with every letter that I typed.
“Don’t say that.”
“Don’t go there.”
It hit me afterward. So much of Christian writing has become about coddling Christians. It’s there to keep us in our glorified bubbles, untouched by the world. Chaste. Innocent.
Gullible.
If I’m being totally honest (the only way I know how to be), the negative comments I’ve received were all from Christians. Picking the pole out of my eye, they fail to see the beam in their own. (Mt 7:3)
Yet it comes down to this: in order to be light in the darkness, I need to portray the darkness as well. I can’t avoid it or I fail as an author. I fail in the job God has set me to do.
Life’s a bed of roses. No, it isn’t. STOP PLAYING CHURCH. Instead, BE the church.
Jesus came to save those who were lost, and He wasn’t afraid to turn over a few tables, raise a few eyebrows to do it. He made waves. Drew a figurative line in the sand more than once and said, “Go ahead. Cross it.” (Mt 18:11;Mt 21:12;Mk 11:15;Lk 19:10;Jn 8:7)
But not as, “make my day.” Instead, “Let me make yours.”
Jesus identified with our struggles. (Heb 4:15) He carried ALL our sin, the big ones and the little ones, and that is the essence of Christian writing. Not to make my bed on a cloud somewhere, untouched by the world. But to write life exactly as it is, sin-laden, and bring those characters back to a realization that despite all they’ve done, God still loves them.
When authors can do that effectively, when they will dare to write what’s in God’s heart, they’ll touch souls and change lives. Isn’t that what apostles Peter and John prayed? “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.” (Act 4:29)
Notice, the results: “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.” (Act 4:33)
Amen.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Best-selling author, Suzanne D. Williams, is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and photographer. She is the author of both nonfiction and fiction books. She writes devotionals and instructional articles for various blogs. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors. She is co-founder of THE EDGE.
To learn more about what she’s doing and check out her extensive catalog of stories, visit http://www.feelgoodromance.com or link with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SDWAuthor.
