The trouble with Christian Writing

A huge part of writing is distilling a thought down to its essence, until only the thought remains. Pure. Precise. Clear.

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a little piece of truth which is so true and so incredible that I have to write about it. So I sit down to think. I try to chew out the essence of it. I chew and I ruminate and I attempt to stick words on it.

Eventually I crack open my Bible, and there my thought sits, pre-distilled and pre-recorded. Exactly the words that I want to use. Already taken.

At this point, I suffer from two jarring questions.

1) How did I ever read those words before yet not arrive at the thought? They’re the best description of this truth, the shortest, the clearest, the purest… and even so I’ve missed the truth in previous readings.

2) If the Bible already says it in the best possible way (and it oh so clearly does), what can I write about?

Time for a Jackie Pullinger* quote:

“The most important thing that I look for in any spiritual book is whether it makes me want to read ‘The Book.’”

Oh, and a John** quote:

“This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

There is no new truth. There is only the truth.

And so while it might be proud and pretentious (and wrong!) to believe that I have received a new truth, that I can do anything other than point to Scripture with a big fat arrow, “Truth Here” …

It’s false humility and a denial of the church to say that I don’t have the right to testify about what Jesus has done (is doing!) in my life. John doesn’t have a monopoly on describing the things that Jesus has done. Is not my testimony also true? (Well, some of it anyway ) Don’t I get to spill some ink?

I guess there is validity to Christian writing. Whew! Otherwise, I’d have to deny the many Christian books which have had a dramatic impact on my life, teaching and clarifying the Gospel.

But there’s not a lot of room for pride. Looking at the basis for it… well… It’s really all about God, isn’t it?

* Foreword to “The Weapons of our Warfare” by Mare Allison
** John 21:24-25, KJV