By: Abigail Metzger
If you are reading this, let me assume that you are a writer. Great! So am I. And as writers we have a ton of questions on just about… everything. We question ourselves and we question what we do. So let me also assume that you’ve asked yourself this question at least once in your writerly life:
“is writing a legitimate way to serve God?”
Alright, maybe we didn’t ask ourselves quite that fancily, but the question is still the same. In one way or another, we wonder to ourselves if writing is a legitimate way to serve God. We ask what being legitimate means and we have doubts picking at the back of our brains that we could simply be wasting our irreplaceable time with writing.
I’ve been there. Many others have been there and today we’re gonna focus on getting out of ’there’. We’re going to shoot through a few things:
What is “Legitimate” Anyway?
On Using Borrowed Superpowers.
Sermons and Stories.
The Powerful Two-Sided Coin of Writing.
Closing note.
By the end of this article, I hope that I will have quelled any question in your mind as to whether your writing is in fact a legitimate way to serve our Lord, or not.
What is “Legitimate” Anyway?
Think about that question for a second and what pops into your head?
A pastor or a missionary? A crusading evangelist such as Billy Graham? Or perhaps even a charity volunteer at a homeless shelter?
Those are great answers. Terrific answers. And they all seem pretty legitimate, don’t they? But what does legitimate mean anyway? And is that honestly all the available legit slots open in a life of serving?
Let’s take a quick dive at understanding “Legitimate”. Legitimate, simply put means: a thing or an action that is genuine and lawful. It means being genuine in intentions and in heart and it means that those said things and actions are lawful things and actions in God’s eyes. Basically: if your heart ain’t in it for real and your hacking accounts by night in order to make donations to the local hospital, you’re not offering a legit service.
Legitimate means simply put: a thing or an action that is genuine and lawful.
So okay, you are not hacking or doing anything unlawful and you genuinely desire to serve our Savior. That is absolutely wonderful! But glancing at the serving items I listed above, are we still leaving out a couple services? Yes. We are leaving out a ‘couple’ at the very least. For serving God is going to look different for everyone.
Borrowed Superpowers
Let’s face it, no matter how cool superhero tech is and Disney’s Big Hero 6’s self made scientific superheroes are, we can’t give ourselves superpowers. Not the literal ones injected inside of you. Nor can any force, being, magic, science, or object. Only God can do that. Only God can give us superpowers or as I’m going to title them for clarification: our talents and fires.
Make no mistake between the two. Your talent/s, as Leo Buscaglia quotes it, “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it, is your gift back to God.” And your fire/s is your passions and your hunger to do something worthwhile. Something that will make some kind of difference.
These things, these ‘talents’ and ‘fires’ weren’t just given at random. God wasn’t using a roulette wheel when He made us, okay? Our talents and fires were cherry picked and personally chosen by God and His journey for each of us is different.
Just as important to understand is that not only were they chosen for us by God, they were loaned to us from God. Our ability to serve God comes from Him. Now I ask you, how cool is that? Pretty cool. All the things we’re awesome at are really loaned gifts and it’s fitting isn’t it, that we do our best to repay Him with what we do with them?
If that’s not a beautiful thing, I don’t know what is. And it gets better: God doesn’t even need us to serve Him! You already knew that? Ah, I guess you did. It’s just personally, I keep freaking out about how cool it is that God doesn’t need us to serve Him and instead He gives us the opportunity to serve Him. Isn’t that amazing? And nor do we serve God for acceptance or approval.
We serve God -now listen up, here’s a big ticket answer here- to magnify His grace before others.
Am I the only one finding this awesome? I hope not and do you honest to goodness think that the only way to magnify God’s grace is by becoming a missionary?
What about a chef? Or a firefighter? Or a singer? Or a… writer? Each occupation in life grants a unique way to serve God. A chef might use their talent to prepare meals for the sick. A firefighter to save lives. A singer to share God’s beauty through their voice. A writer to illuminate hearts and minds toward the Light.
You have to ask God where He wants you to be and what He wants you to do. He’ll show you what you ought to be doing. Writing takes just as much skill as it does talent. Not gonna lie. It takes time to develop. It’s a real blood, sweat, and tears process, but if the fire to write has been planted in you, it must be there for a reason.
The heroes in Big Hero 6 weren’t given their powers by a spider bite or some mythic origin, they actually invented their powers. But you’ll notice that Hiro and the gang’s actual superpowers weren’t their ultra cool devices that made them superheroes. It was their passion for science. It was their talents and their fire to keep getting better that were responsible for their mega gadgets.
Sermons and Stories
Have you ever noticed something about sermons? Something that piques your memory ever so often? Something that makes the speaker more human and more believable? Yes? Well that’s more than likely a story. Pastors use personal stories almost all of the time. They do what writers do, they take something they’ve experienced or observed and share it with listeners.
They do this because stories are valuable.
They do this because we can understand and relate to stories. We remember the good ones and they add value to just about everything. Pastors understand the value either consciously or subconsciously and they use it.
These stories bring us closer to the message and oftentimes help to humanize these superhuman facts on a level we can absorb. Not only do they help us to absorb the meaning of a message, they help make that message stick.
Pastors - the ones good at using the superpower of writing - don’t just use any stories. They use stories that allegory what they're trying to say, they use relatable stories; things that most of us can relate to or at least can understand. With their sermons, they use a dab of glue to stick it into our minds so we can remember it. That glue is often a story.
But this gets better. Guess who else used the power of story?
Jesus did. In Luke 10 verse 29, we read that a man asked Jesus, “who is my neighbor?” Instead of answering flat out, we read in the very next verse that Jesus, ‘replied with a story.’ That of course is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Who doesn’t remember that story? Jesus does this many times, He replies and He teaches with stories.
When Jesus finished the story about the Samaritan, He asked the man, “now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” The man replied, “the one who showed him mercy.” Jesus Himself, used the ‘show don’t tell’ method. His allegories are flawless. He used the power of story many times to teach people in the Parables. He used relatability; things people could understand.
He used seeds of grain to illustrate His Word and soil to illustrate our hearts, He didn’t use some unearthly, otherworldly description that we couldn’t comprehend. He used a story.
The Powerful Two-Sided
Coin of Writing
Writing, I believe, is the most silent and powerful weapon in the universe.
It has the power to evoke emotion, wedge itself in the memory, ease pain, let us know we aren’t alone, and change entire lives by the book. By the chapter. Or even by the sentence. Writing slips into us and changes the way we see things.
Now let’s extract just one ingredient from the Recipe of Writing as an example to show writing’s power. Let’s extract ‘characters’. When people believe and love a character, they aspire to be like that character. They make fan art of that character, they talk about the character, they adapt something about the character to themselves, and their hearts leap in anticipation as they reach that character’s story climax.
The reader might relate to that character, making them feel less alone in a struggling and lonely time in their life. They can observe and understand their fellow humankind better through that character. They have the chance to see things through another’s eyes, and unlike real life situations, they get to see the why behind a lot of things that can make people the way that they are.
Now tell me what other weapon can butt heads with that and possess the kind of power that’s stocked up in one little pen or key?
But like a weapon or a tool -let’s say oh, a coin for instance- writing’s potential can land either way. Good or bad. As an existence, writing is an emotionless item. Like a sheriff’s badge, it can do absolutely nothing on its own. But the second the badge is clipped on an actual officer’s uniform or a pen slipped between a writer’s fingers, it comes alive to that being’s will and way.
A sheriff can abuse his power. And we writer’s can abuse writing in the same way and goodness do we have ample supply of abused writing. Just pull up a bookstore website -any will do- and what do you see slathered all over it? Abused writing and abused power. Stuff that really hits home is the fact that our society is falling and dragging some of the most powerful of tools down with it.
Plus, writing -fiction or nonfiction- can be incredibly sneaky. It sneaks into reader’s hearts -good writing that is- and challenges and adversaries the reader. It uses all the tricks in the trade to make you love a character. Love a concept. Love a story. All the while portraying it as utterly true! It’s amazing. Not always good. But amazing.
Now consider the Hobbit and Narnia and all those stories that were used for God! Of course there are some who think it best to stay away from that kind of power. It might be deceiving after all. Perhaps we should mute our writing, make it safer, and less influencing.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought the question was, “is writing a legitimate way to serve God?” Not, “is writing safe, dull stuff a legitimate way to serve God?”
Because if that’s the question, then we’d be aiming for a whole different article here. But hey, I’m fair, and I’ll sum up what that whole article would have been about in one sentence: ‘boring writing about God borders on blasphemy’ as www.desiringGod.com so aptly put it.
In general, I am highly annoyed by Christian fiction. Obviously not because it’s Christian, but because I’m absolutely no fan of the writing and because the characters are annoying and unbelievable to an incredible extent. Don’t get me wrong, there is some fabulous Christian fiction out there, but as for most of it? It bores me beyond belief and makes me cringe at the very thought of it.
Boring writing is like saying “hey! Here’s my God, He could be real, but see how lifeless and boring He is!”
Yeah… no. That’s not what we should strive for, for that is not the truthful image of our Lord.
As writers, it’s our duty to portray God as His glorious living Self. Not a lifeless, fickle genie who’s best trait is being wise beyond human knowledge.
That’s not who our God is. I mean, God created me, didn’t He? And He created you. How could He possibly be boring? We must not abuse our power to write. We must strive to always learn and better it and use it to its full potential… for God.
If you’re writing for God truly and genuinely, letting Him take the pen of your life and story, and you’re writing in truth and honesty about God’s greatness and grace, and not twisting facts so they fit political agendas, tell me, how are you deceiving anyone?
I’ll admit and proclaim this without hesitation: writing is hard. Writing is dangerous. But my oh my is it worthwhile. How could such a power not be intended for legitimate use for God? Could you walk up to C.S. Lewis or Paul or James Dobson and ask them, “is writing a legitimate way to serve God?” Without feeling slightly sheepish?
A weapon, a tool, a well of potential such as this, why shouldn't it be employed in The Kingdom’s army and make one jaw dropping impact?
Closing Note:
Take a glance at Lewis’s Narnia or his Screwtape Letters for just one example. It’s hard to near impossible to think about them as an illegitimate way to serve God. But if there are any possible questions that haven’t been confronted above, ask away! And in the meantime, have a wonderful day!
What are your deepest doubts about serving through writing? Which part of this article was the most helpful? Let me know in the comments!
Abigail Metzger
Tracing Abigail Metzger's writing ventures back to the very beginning, you'd see a five-year-old girl hunched over a white floral journal, writing a one-page story of a cat winning a pet show.
Since then her passion for writing grew. She began writing longer stories and poems. She has outlined several books and is currently in the re-writing process of her most recent novel.
Abigail's favorite things to write would mainly include fantasy, general fiction, adventure, flash fiction, and poetry.
Her vision for writing is to write incredible stories with destinations in the hearts of others and spread the Word of Christ.
Her interests revolve around horses, writing, music video making, illustrating, photography, and everything to do with winter. She currently lives on a small hobby farm and is the owner of a grade horse named Dolly and a few too many cats.
In short, she is a Christian authoress of many interests and is readily willing to help all the KeePers of Kingdom Pen.
Become an Unstoppable Writer!
I love how you talked about what “legitimately serving God” means. It really put a lot of things, not just writing, into perspective for me. There are so many ways stories can reflect and glorify God, and as you mentioned, do the opposite. Thank you so much for sharing this article Abigail! It was so insightful and encouraging. 🙂
I am ecstatic that this article has been of value to you! I cannot tell you how happy I am about that:) Isn’t that the sad truth though that so many stories have the potential of serving God, but don’t? That is just one of the great many reasons I’m thankful for Kingdom Pen and all the awesome writer and stories I get to see emerge here:) Thank you for reading this article!
Abigail, I loved what you had to say in this article! Jesus taught people through stories, illuminating truth with His Parables. We can do the same as storytellers, constantly improving our craft to tell great stories to capture people’s interest and point them toward the truth. Thanks for writing this inspiring article 🙂
Thank you! The Parables have always been some of my favorite writing in the Bible and that is so true:) I’m glad you enjoyed this article!
Great article! Here’s what I gathered:
“Now let’s extract just one ingredient from the Recipe of Writing as an example to show writing’s power. Let’s extract ‘characters’. When people believe and love a character, they aspire to be like that character. They make fan art of that character, they talk about the character, they adapt something about the character to themselves, and their hearts leap in anticipation as they reach that character’s story climax.
The reader might relate to that character, making them feel less alone in a struggling and lonely time in their life. They can observe and understand their fellow humankind better through that character. They have the chance to see things through another’s eyes, and unlike real life situations, they get to see the why behind a lot of things that can make people the way that they are.”
This was why I gravitated so much to Blue from Jurassic World, Sophie Foster from Keeper of the Lost Cities, and the clone squad from Star Wars: The Bad Batch. (Although Blue is not a character in the typical sense, she’s still an important part of the story.) All three of these examples were experimented on before they were born in hopes of creating some superpowerful THING. Blue was for research, Sophie to see her world in a different light–which will help save it from the prejudices it has within–and Hunter, Tech, Wrecker and Crosshair to be some of the most powerful soldiers their army had ever seen.
Why would I sympathize so much with a dinosaur, an elf girl, and four mutant warriors?
I have autism and sensory processing. (I refuse to call those “disorders” when I find nothing wrong with them.) They make me see my world differently, like Sophie. And like Blue and the clones, I’m a bit different. I was never experimented on–thank God for that–but my quirks were natural. I think.
Also, Blue has stripes down her back which are my favorite color. I’ve drawn lots of fanart of her. And Tech from the Bad Batch kinda reminds me of, well, me. Thin and tall, wears glasses, always blurting out random interesting science stuff…Well, he doesn’t do that too much, but I do. There I go, adapting myself to the character rather than the other way around. Crazy me.
Also, about using stories to illustrate God’s truth, the worship pastor at my church has used a fictional story analogy both times he’s preached. The first time it had something to do with purpose. Glorious purpose. And yes, he borrowed that line from Loki. Don’t ask me why. I think it had something to do with REAL purpose–God’s purpose for our lives–but still, it was totally unexpected. And did I mind? Actually, no. I was still weirded out at first though.
The other time it was a Lord of the Rings reference, which made a little more sense since that one’s a Christian-based story rather than a mythical one. I don’t quite remember what that part of the sermon was about. I don’t remember if it was from somewhere in Genesis or whether it was part of the Advent preaching series. It was a week or two ago.
I know what you mean about Christian fiction being annoying, but here are two I liked to check out:
-The Wingfeather Saga (I liked the first book, but others say it’s cliché and a drag. Read all the way through before you decide whether it’s on your annoying list.)
-Order of the Seven (This is a cute kids’ his-fic/fantasy. Basically, a team of animals on a mission from God get to travel through history and witness–and even help in–key events, biblical and otherwise historical. I like it, even though at first it seems like a younger kids’ story. It’s actually really good.)
Wow, that was long. Sorry.
Don’t be sorry! I love long comments:) It means I can write long replies and that is always something that have a very hard time not doing.
I wouldn’t call those disorders really either because there is absolutely nothing wrong with them and your story wonderfully illustrates the power behind characters and how they can impact on the reader’s life:) and that is why so many readers have loved those characters so much; because they are relatable. I love how characters can connect people and show how no matter how different we think we are, there are a lot more things we’re similar in than we believe.
Ooh! Thank you for referencing me to those books! I’ve heard about the Wingfeather Saga, but haven’t read it yet. I will have to check that out and Order of the Seven too! Even though you said its exposed to be a younger kids story, I think the best stories can come from that genre; I mean Narnia was originally written for children, but every age adores it 😀
I’m glad you enjoyed this article and thank you so much for reading it and commenting! 😀
I love how excited you were about this topic! So many great reminders.
Thank you! Yes, in writing this article, I was very hyped to write it and share this material because of all the spectacular writing potential out there! I’m glad you enjoyed reading this article and thank you for doing so:D
Wow, this article was SO helpful!!! Up until now, I’ve been wondering how I can serve God in my writing and if it’s really valuable to his kingdom, and this has really helped me a lot! It made me rethink my purpose and everything. Thank you so much!!!
(Prepare for a loooonnng comment, because this very question is something I wrestle with a lot, and for a long time, I clammed up and refused to write out of fear–no, gripping terror–that I was dishonoring God through writing the kinds of stories I was naturally talented at writing)
My deepest doubts about serving through writing are…many things. I’m not talented with writing allegory, like CS Lewis for example. Honestly, I doubt the things I write could even be called “Christian fiction”. “Clean fiction”, maybe–Clean fiction for the general market, not the Christian market.
Take my latest idea, for example–An alternate, Earth-like planet with fantasy creatures (elves, fairies, dragons, and races of my own invention) and alternate Earthling-like beings, who age differently (because of the planet’s rotation around its sun) and, because of genetics, are classified into “Alpha”, “Beta”, or “Omega” designations.
(I used some elements from Omegaverse fanfic, but nothing that would glorify un-Christian lifestyles–no same-sex romantic relationships, no male pregnancy, nothing of that sort. I took the idea of designations, individual scents, found family/”packs”, and my own version of nests–that’s it.)
With being a chef, serving God seems easy. You can cook in homeless kitchens, make extra servings of your dinner to share with neighbors having a difficult time, invite people from church to your house, for lunch on Sunday. As a writer, it seems–to me, at least–the only way God would consider it legitimately serving Him would be if I wrote for the Christian market.
A simple, clean, secular science-fantasy novel, hopefully offering a story that those of all ages can read, and revitalizing a fanfic genre by getting rid of a few un-Christian elements….just doesn’t seem (to me, at least) like I’m glorifying God with this. There’s nothing really “Christian” about the story. Moral, yes. Relationships in line with Christianity (no pre-marital sex, and only male-female relationships), yes. But…alternate Earthlings with different genetic features?
A planet where dragons and other animals exist, not good and not bad, just creatures? There’s even fairies that took a lost boy and raised him from childhood, swapping him with a fairy child for the humans to raise, because the fairies thought–mistakenly–that the boy was neglected (he isn’t; he just has a weak immune system). It’s a twist on the “fairy changeling” plot–the fairies’ intentions weren’t malicious. They thought they were helping.
Maybe I just overthink things way too much. Maybe clean, secular fiction can serve God. I’d love input, if possible. Would God honestly say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” just for writing clean secular fiction with nothing distinctly “Christian”?
Not all God-honouring fiction is an allegory. J. R. R. Tolkien refused to call The Lord of the Rings an allegory, because it wasn’t. The Lord of the Rings however, still displays courage, truth, virtue, beauty, and light. He just wanted to write a good story. I believe that you should just do you best; God will shine through.
Thank you. I’m still writing the story, it’s just changed a little bit from my original comment
Thank you for this article. It is a great reminder to me about why I write. Writing has great power, and as I writer I am blessed to learn from the example of the Great Author, God. All that resonates true in any story comes from the truth in His Word he authored through generations.
I do enjoy reading many books by Christian authors, for example: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, etc.), The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. When I was younger I devoured Dragons in Our Midst, Oracles of Fire, and Children of the Bard by Bryan Davis.
It brings me sorrow to see how the beauty of writing is being twisted in modern times.
Once again, thank you for this article!
I am trying to figure out how to apply, so I will be joining the community shortly! (You can call me Kendra Write, or Unsung, if you will :D)
This is the very first article I read, and It’s amazing, to say the least. My entire young life, I have wrestled (and lost hours of sleep!) over this very question. While this was helpful… you DID say to shoot any questions your way! 😀 so here is mine!
I am an avid writer; I’ve written the equivalent of about 13 books, and I’ve been writing stories my whole life; however, my natural writing style shifts away from real-world stories, and into the fantasy genre. I don’t believe in putting God into fantasy, because HE is NOT fantasy. So, my question is this:
If we are not putting in a representation of God directly (since I am convinced writing God into a fantasy story is a suboptimal idea) how are we to glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with that? Is our goal to create a contrast of good-and-evil circumstances and battles? Good, role-model characters that the readers can aspire to, and not just in spite of but also because of the characters’ flaws?
This is something I have struggled with my whole. Entire. Life! I would really appreciate ANYONE’S input here from KP, I suppose! 😀 I haven’t explored much yet, but what y’all are doing here is exactly what I’ve been looking for for years, so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone out there who started and make KP possible!
Also, I am rather a long-winded writer lol. So that was a bit long. *Shrug* XD
Thanks for this article. 💙 I have almost stopped writing completely several times because of this struggle, but I’ve had 2 friends who have kept me going. This article was huge for me.
To be joining the KP fam soon,
~Kendra Write (or Unsung! I cannot decide which one I want to go with quite yet XP)
Wow! This is a great article! Probably the point that you made that really resonated with me, as a Christian writer who aspires for epic fantasy, is that so much of today’s Christian writing makes God so boring. I cannot agree more! Likewise, there is so much trash in many of today’s novels. There must be a good medium, a way to illustrate God’s love for us in a way that honors Him. That’s what I’m striving for in my writing, anyway. Thanks for sharing these great thoughts!