What’s easy to read is hard to write. People sometimes say, “God gave me these words.” Yet the words may be poorly chosen—and I don’t think God wants credit for them. If God leads you to write, great, but get the help you need to write your best for His glory!
Writers are stewards of words, accountable to God for how they are arranged. I constantly seek criticism, running everything by my co-workers at Eternal Perspective Ministries. (I prefer to get it right before the book is published!) Honest critics and careful editors are essential. But above all, I need Christ, who said, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). I want to hear God say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” There’s no bigger payoff than that!
I won’t deny that it’s fun to make the New York Times bestsellers list. But my greatest desire is to please the Audience of One. Since His judgment seat is the only one I’ll stand before, His opinion is the one that matters:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. … It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).
I seek to write with all my heart, as a service to the Lord. One hundred percent of my book royalties go to help the needy, support just causes and reach people with the gospel. By God’s grace, there are over seven million of my books in print. It’s fun to know the Lord is using both the books and the royalties to touch lives.
Whether we build, draw, fix things or make a home for our families, God wants us to yield our gifts to Him, depending on our Savior for the next step, the next breath. I pray that I’ll be God’s instrument to passionately and accurately convey the truths of His Word.
What do I look forward to? Serving my King as a resurrected person on a resurrected earth, where joy will be the air we breathe. I anticipate meeting those who touched my life, and saying “thanks for being faithful.” And then, like all God’s children, I’ll get to hear from those whose lives the Lord allowed me to touch. What a privilege. What could be better than to be loved by Jesus, to love Him and His people and the New Earth that awaits us, and to serve him, both now and forever?
