An Audience of One

 

By Nate Stevens

 

As Christian, faith-based authors, we have an audience of One.

Sure, we may write to inspire a growing audience of readers. We may write appealing, relatable stories to people of differing experiences, backgrounds, and upbringing. But let’s keep the
main thing the main thing.

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

I love deciphering God’s Word and finding the “story behind the story.” Those details hold much wisdom we can apply to everyday life. From these verses, I find encouragement and motivation for my writing. I trust you will too.

·       Whatever – This seems overly simplistic, but it includes fiction and non-fiction, suspense and documentaries, paperbacks, or the dreaded digital. Whether we research, write, edit, publish, or market, it’s all included in whatever.

·       Heartily – The Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible lists this as “soul work.” The Amplified version has it as “work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort].” Ecclesiastes 9:10 encourages a “with all your might” dedication. Although the actual writing may seem the most appealing and natural, every aspect of the process deserves our wholehearted effort and investment. Without to-the-bone editing, how will we hold our readers’ attention? Without good marketing, how will others find our masterpieces?

·       As to the Lord – Imagine if Jesus was our writing inspiration, our editor, our publisher, our marketer. How would that affect our craft? It’s one thing to satisfy the demands of a seemingly impatient agent, ruthless editor, or prickly publisher. But quite another to satisfy the King of kings and Lord of lords. Let’s perform every aspect of life for Him.

·       Receive the reward – Of course, winning the applause and awards within the literary community is amazing. As a finalist in the Selah Awards, it is gratifying to know my work is appreciated and valued by others. How much more awesome to hear Jesus say, “I really loved your article / book titled … It glorified Me, represented your best effort, and helped others along life’s journey. Well done!”

·       You serve the Lord Christ – Again, this may seem overly simplistic, although I suspect we may occasionally overlook it in the nitty-gritty grind of producing literary artwork. It can be distracting to identify the readers’ needs or pulse to give them what they want. We might even compromise God’s truth to be politically correct. And the whole process can become quite spiritually distracting. But we have an audience of One. What we do is for God’s glory—no wavering, compromise, or distractions.

Writing is a complex, intense, sometimes disappointing but highly rewarding craft. Using our God-given gift for His glory helps keep things in perspective and makes Him smile.

Stay blessed, my friends!

 

Photo courtesy of Lanty on Unsplash.com.

A lifelong student of Scripture, Nate Stevens has also enjoyed a forty-three-year banking career in a variety of leadership roles. He is the author of Matched 4 Life (book and workbook), Deck Time with Jesus, Transformed: Until Christ is Formed in You, Conformed: Into the Likeness of Christ, Informed: Living by God’s Absolute Truth, Surrendered: Yielding to God’s Perfect Will, God’s Secret Place, Accelerate Your Destiny. He is also a contributing author on several of the Moments Books series (Billy Graham Moments, Romantic Moments, Divine Moments, Spoken Moments, Christmas Moments, Stupid Moments, and Broken Moments).

 

Nate writes online articles for ChristianDevotions.us and KingdomWinds.com as well as several other ministries. Additionally, he co-founded and leads Fusion, a Christian singles ministry. A popular speaker and teacher at conferences, seminars and Bible study groups, he speaks on a wide variety of topics. Nate has two adult children. He and his wife, Karen, live near Charlotte, North Carolina. Follow Nate and find more resources at: www.natestevens.net.