Don't give up!

So, you have poured your heart out over your keyboard. You have spent hours on research. You have read your work a thousand times over and over again and have edited like a heartless crazy-person. You have checked every Bible reference twenty times. You have searched for that perfect image and have struggled for hours trying to put together an unmissable image for your post.

Finally, you hit the publish button and sit back expectantly, waiting for the page view numbers to sky rocket like never before. Because, this post is by far your best ever, most sincere, most anointed post of all the posts you’ve ever written. Or so you thought...

After two hours you have two page views, and one of them is your spouse. Oh yes, you remember, you’ve got a social-network platform that you have created because some top-seller, award-winning author at some seminar have told you that you shouldn’t even try to get published without one. So, you hit the share button on all of your social-network sights and wait… After two days you’ve got ten page views. Really?!

Sound familiar?

Yes, it is very easy for Christian writers to lose heart and to give up all together. Here is the truth, when you’ve made the decision to write for the Christian genre, you have not chosen the most popular genre. Think about it, there are a handful of well-known names in the Christian-publishing world and most of the time they are also famous preachers. Here you come along. You are not a famous preacher and most probably you’re not even a preacher. Chances are you don’t have a doctor’s degree in theology and half of your friends and family didn’t even know you could write.

But please don’t stop writing for Christ. Just change you perception on writing for Christ by thinking about these three statements…

-          You should not expect overnight fame and thousands of page views.

Consider this. Jesus had only twelve men in his circle of which one of them betrayed Him. He also told us that those who find their way through the narrow gate are few (Mat. 7:14). In fact, He warned us that we will be hated by the world (John 15:18-19, 1 John 3:13). So, don’t expect the world to love your writing.

-          Reconsider the reason why you are writing for Christ.

It should not be for your own fame. You should be writing because you love God and because you want to bless your readers with the messages you have to share. Read my post, Why write for Christ?, for a more in depth discussion on this point.

-          To God, numbers does not matter

Remember the parable Jesus told us about the Good Shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep to look for the one lost sheep? You can read the parable in Luke 15:1-7 but I want to focus on verse 7 (own emphasis): “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Did you see that number there? It does not tell us that there will be joy in heaven as soon as they hit the thousand mark of sinners that repented. Not even hundred, fifty or ten sinners. No. There will be joy in heaven over one sinner. Even one. You see, to God individuals matter. He does not see crowds. He sees every single one of the uniquely created persons that He died for. He knew each one of them before they were even born (Ps. 139:15-16).

So, perhaps, when God prompted you to write about something, He had one specific individual in mind. And He will make sure that your message reaches that one person. All that research and hours of work for only one person, you ask? Yes, He would have died for that one person.

Does this mean you should not make an effort to be seen out there? Of course not! You have an important message to share and Jesus told us to proclaim the gospel to all nations (Mark 16:15, Mark 13:10). Do the best that you can possibly do from your side and then trust God. I see my blogging as seed sown into cyber space. The Holy Spirit is the wind that will spread those seed and who will make sure they reach the hearts which He has prepared beforehand for it.

We should not measure our success to worldly standards, because, we are not of the world (John 17:16, Col. 1:13, 1 Peter 2:9. James 4:4). You are a Kingdom of God citizen and you should measure your work to God’s standards. He is always your first reader. You’re writing should please Him, not the world.

Stay true to the Word of God in everything you write and let the Holy Spirit guide you.

That should be your measure of success.

Happy writing!

Madeleine

Images: Pixabay