The Temptation for the Writer (and for the rest of us, too)

There is a temptation to anyone who writes that is hard to put into words but it exists nonetheless. It is the temptation to write what people want to read. We want to write that viral post or that next great bestseller. Whether it be fiction or non-fiction, we all desire to be liked and to have lots of readers/followers. By default, we writers (and any other content creator or social media influencer) almost always fall to this temptation as it is the amount of readers and followers that [supposedly] gives us validity.

And so it is a very conscious decision when a Christian writer (or content creator/social media influencer) chooses to share some truth from scripture that they know will not be popular or very well received.

As I have blogged here over these past fourteen years, it has continued to be my desire, above all, to write what I believe scripture teaches. But, as the years have passed by, I can see that interest in this is growing less and less popular. The average Christian seems to gravitate toward only two types of content: 1) Content that brings encouragement and warm, fuzzy feelings and 2) content that is new or sensational.

And so, I have had to ask myself many times– over the recent years especially– am I doing the right thing? Should I be focused on only encouraging believers? Should I try to be more creative in what I write here?

In the end, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: I write for God and not for my readers. And, while, of course, I really do write for you as I write for God, my goal cannot be to make you happy, to gather the greatest number of readers, or to agonize over whether or not what I write will be popular.

But this can be discouraging in a world that seems to only give validity and the label “successful” to the one who is popular and well-liked. Every so often, I pour out my heart to the Lord and He always reminds me: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God... (Matthew 6:33)

The Bible isn’t all warm, fuzzy feelings and sensational. While those two things are nice and they are both part of scripture at some places, much of scripture is about knowing God and understanding what He desires of those He has redeemed…things like holiness, purity, and turning from sin and the world. Never popular topics.

But this is not only about the writer or content creator. This is about you, too. I’d rather guess that you also face the same temptation to not speak or share on certain topics with your family, friends, and co-workers because of the reaction you will get. Popularity is not generally going to characterize the life of the believer who speaks the whole counsel of God rather than just the pleasant or good stuff.

However, as believers, we are to be sharing the truth of scripture–the whole truth and not just the good parts–because partial truth leads to lies.

For example, the good news of Jesus dying on the cross is inoffensive and impotent unless we understand the unpleasant truth that we are without any good; that we are lost and hopeless sinners and that Jesus Christ died so that we can be reconciled to God. “Accepting Christ” so that we have a better life, to find purpose, or to have a fulfilled dreams is NOT salvation but, in fact, is a damning heresy. We must speak the whole truth.

Thankfully, we are not responsible for someone’s response. This was a real relief when I finally realized this. It means we can lay our written and spoken words on the altar before God and let Him do what He will with them.

And, while we should always be examining ourselves to make sure we are speaking truth in love, “being popular” can never be the measuring stick to determine this (John 15:18-19) and, in fact, this may be a sign that we aren’t speaking the whole truth, as we should be (James 4:4; I John 2:15-16).

It is so important that we believers take time once in a while to evaluate and examine our testimony among others as we live each day and encounter the many different people that God brings into each of our lives. Do we only speak what we know will be well-received? Do we try to avoid ridicule or antagonism? Does our desire to be well-liked supersede our desire to please the Lord?

We need to remind ourselves that, if we claim to love Christ, our priorities are no longer what they were. We are new creatures living a new life. Old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17) Instead, our desire should be to seek God first and His righteousness. This will be a lifelong pursuit that will serve to keep our priorities in order, whatever the Lord has given us to do and wherever He has placed us. May we live for His honor and glory alone!

 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)