Creativity: The heart of God’s writers
Genesis 1:26 tells us we are made in the image of God. And He is the great Creator. For us to grasp what this means to writers, let’s explore three critical points of the concept. This will help define the joy and purpose of our extraordinary gift.
Let’s begin with three reasons why the gift of writing is critical to a Christian worldview.
1. A Christian writer’s purpose is to show the hope of heaven.
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How can we take the hope of heaven and communicate through the written word the manifestation of God in our lives? Isn’t this a part of good stewardship? Do we invest in our careers to impact more people, or do we bury it . . . write for only ourselves or not write at all? (See Matthew 25:14-30.)
When writing instructors encourage us to write what we know, they mean for us to use our life experiences to qualify and quantify our voice in the world of Christian publishing.
When we are challenged to write what we don’t know, the research stretches us to learn and then share new information.
Not every reader knows the meaning of salvation, redemption, conversion, justification, etc. Those words mean different things to different people. Some have no idea what they mean. So don’t toss Christian words like a huge pill to digest, but show their meaning in fiction and nonfiction that reflects those concepts and serves to bring people to God.
I've often said if I don’t learn something spiritually and become a better person during the writing process, then I’ve failed readers, myself, and God.
Like gentle rain on thirsty ground, acknowledging our creativity is to accept the gifts the Father has given us and shower them on others.
2. A Christian writer’s art begins with a journey.
Moses spent 40 years in the desert developing his leadership skills to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He wrote the first five books of the Bible.
David had to wait years before he could lead Israel as king. While he waited, he learned the art of servanthood, leadership, and how to be a soldier, and he wrote many psalms.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, had nine months to learn what it might be like to nurture God in infant form.
The apostle Paul learned to lead others to a relationship with Jesus, but first he discovered how to love others.
Every writer’s journey starts with the road of beginnings, our Genesis, then continues down the path He’s orchestrated.
- The relationship with Jesus Christ that opens our hearts to God’s purpose in our lives
- The calling of God upon our lives to recognize a special gift
- The acceptance of the gift of communicating through the written word
- The prayers of preparation knowing the road ahead will be difficult
- The organization of the learning process: craft
- The task of writing every day
- The joy of reading every day
- The knowledge of helping other serious writers
3. A Christian writer understands the meaning of sacrifice.
Do you ever wonder why so many writers are melancholy? We experience life differently. We feel deeply. Drink deeply from the well of imagination. We weep at the sight of beauty and again at injustice. And we are easily broken.
Why broken? A writer must be able to see God’s perspective. We must be emptied of ourselves and look up while we crawl through raw emotions. If we aren’t willing to see life through God’s lenses, we certainly can’t write reality with hope.
Writers are to embrace transparency, not as needy people but as strong Christians who practice empathy.
We claim we have a passion for the craft or we are passionate about a writing project. The word passion comes from the Greek “to suffer.” Are we willing to sacrifice and suffer to help others better themselves?
We grumble about not having enough time to write. Isn’t creativity about giving ourselves to others for the sake of glorifying God through something indescribably beautiful? Place God as your number one priority, and He will show you when and how to develop what He’s orchestrated as your gift.
Sacrifice is beauty, encouraging writers to hold their words close to their hearts and run alongside Jesus wherever He leads.
Perhaps in feeling comfortable with what we’re doing and our uninterrupted lives, we’re inviting failure because we’ve accepted complacency as our soul cry instead of Jesus.
God will help us, but He wants and expects 100 percent of our efforts.
What is the color and shape of His sacrifice but the cross and Jesus’ arms opened wide to receive all those who want eternal life? Can we writers open our arms to the world, sacrificially write until we bleed raw, shed tears, and find gratification in giving our gift, then do it all over again?
Everything we write points back to God. We hold the standards God presents in Scripture to create wholesome, uplifting, encouraging projects that are well-crafted and appeal to our audience.
When God gifts us with the power of writing, He infuses our hearts with a desire to share His message through our voices.
How do you view your gift of creativity?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DiAnnMills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She creates action-packed, suspense-filled novels to thrill readers. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne du Maurier, Inspirational Reader's Choice, and Carol Award contests. Firewall, the first book in her Houston: FBI series, was listed by Library Journal as one of the best Christian fiction books of 2014. Connect with DiAnn here: www.diannmills.com.
