March 2005

In my years as a writer, I’ve met people who have strong, distinct attitudes about fiction. Some “only” read the Bible or words that educate them, as if reading anything for entertainment is sinful. Do they honestly think that reading a story dishonors God?

I agree that for the Christian, the Bible should be our favorite book. It is more than just our guide. The Bible is the living, breathing Word of God. To study it, read it daily, love it dearly is most important. It is our food, our life blood.

One of the reasons I love the Bible is because it is so filled with stories of real people. I learn a lot from what those people went through, from their sins and confessions and restoration.

Jesus used the power of story to impart heavenly truth to the people of His day in a way that they could understand. He is the Master storyteller.

Christian fiction is simply storytelling with a Christian worldview.

If we are truly honest, we have to admit that we all love a good story. Whether that story comes in the form of the nightly news, a history book, or a novel – we identify with real people or fictional characters more than we do with ideas.

But it is through those stories that ideas come. People today do read fiction. And if the only fiction written promotes a secular worldview, then people will absorb secular humanist, post-modern ideas as they read those stories.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Any amount of theology can be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance without their knowing it.”

And if that theology rides the wings of truth, it can cause readers to seek more. Christian fiction can even make the Bible come to life, encouraging people to take a closer look, to realize that those people were real, perhaps leading them to pick up a Bible to check it out for themselves.

One other reason I write and promote Christian fiction is this: it is good entertainment.

When people suggest that they only read the Bible or words that educate, I have to ask, “What do you do for entertainment?” Do you draw, golf, swim, sing, play sports, knit, sew, paint, watch TV, go to movies, play video games, play board games, chat on the phone, shop?

We all do something to relieve stress, to relax. If you would do any of the above, why can’t reading also fall into that category, just for fun?

Sometimes, I think we put reading itself on a level of ultra legalism. As if the only words I can read have to educate my mind (with non-fiction truth) or my spirit (with spiritual truth). But words that tell a story will make their way into our hearts and minds in one form or another whether we want to admit it or not.

Why not let ourselves accept that and enjoy the great stories out there?

I’ve got a whole list of Christian books I recommend in my blog archives, if you’re interested. :)

Last night, in an early remembrance of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, we watched The Passion of the Christ, the movie put out by Mel Gibson last year. It is good to remember our Lord’s death. To see the agony He went through to pay the penalty for our sins. The thought is both humbling and sobering.

In Hebrews 12:2-3 it says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

The Passion gives us a graphic look at what Jesus Christ endured on His way to the cross. The shame He endured, the humiliation, the torture, the torment and the hostility from sinners against Himself is something none of us will ever understand. So why do it? Why put Himself through such pain?

“For the joy set before Him…”

What was the joy He was reaching for? What did He know His death would accomplish that brought Him a joy strong enough to endure it all?

It wasn’t just the joy of Heaven or even of being reunited with His Father. It wasn’t the joy of knowing that His glory, the glory that He had with the Father before the world began, would be restored to Him. He could have had any of these things in the blink of an eye, without enduring any pain or shame or death. He had not sinned, so He was not destined to die. So what could His death possibly accomplish that would cause Him extreme joy?

Only one answer is possible.

Us.

The joy set before Christ, that dangling carrot that caused Him to endure the hostility of sinners, was the joy in knowing that His death and resurrection was the only way that we could be with Him where He was going.

Can you imagine it?

Jesus Christ considered it immense joy to be with His people. He loves us so much, longs for us so intensely, cares for us so deeply, that simply being in our presence brings Him great joy.

He knew that our sin would forever keep us out of Heaven – that literal, perfect place which He has been decorating and preparing for over two thousand years. There was no way His Father could even look on our sin, let alone allow us into that sinless paradise. Our sin had to be covered somehow and the only way for that to happen was for a perfect substitute to take our place.

That’s what Jesus did.

For the joy of being with us someday.

Isn’t that totally awesome?

It makes Resurrection Sunday all the more meaningful.

I don’t usually watch TV in the morning but today on the Today Show, Christian
author Kristin Billerbeck guest interviewed on the show promoting Christian Chic Lit. Chic Lit is well known in the secular (ABA) market for books like Bridget Jones’s Diary and shows like Ally McBeal. Kristin was one of the first in the Christian market to break into this genre.

They also interviewed Joan Marlow Golan, editor at Steeple Hill/Harlequin Publishing. Both Joan and Kristin did a good job, showing poise and professionalism. And hopefully, Christian fiction will see a rise in interest because of it.

It was fun to watch both of these fine ladies after having met them in person at the ACFW Conference in Denver last year. I remember when Kristin wrote romance before she broke into chic lit. Her writing career has taken wing since she discovered her voice in this genre.

It takes time for an author to discover her writing voice. Whether she makes it to the Today Show or anywhere else in the national spotlight is partly dependent on how well she learns to develop that voice. When we can learn to write from the depths of our being, showing our characters to be real, vital people that connect to readers in the real world, then we’re getting somewhere.

Because it’s not just about telling a good story. It’s about creating characters within that story that touch a chord of truth in the hearts of people. Then our writing will make a lasting difference.

A friend of mine signed her first book contract this week! I’m so happy for her because I know she’s held this dream since she was in kindergarten. She’s loved story-telling longer than I have and worked hard to get there. This dream-come-true is a long time in coming.

As I reflected on that thought, a part of me is happy for her while the other part wonders if God has forgotten where I live. My book publishing “dream-come-true” is still stuck in God’s waiting room. And honestly, all sorts of demons visit this waiting room. (Uninvited, I might add!) Demons of self-pity and jealousy and frustration and hurt and anger. When will I be on the receiving end of these dreams? Ever?

In Philippians 2:3-4 it says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” NKJV

It goes against my nature to put others first. When I pray, the first thing I think of is my desires, my needs. That’s normal, right? I mean, if I wake up in back pain or with tendonitis (an occasional problem), my thoughts are screaming, asking God to make it go away. I’m not thinking about someone else’s pain at that point. I just want my own body to start working right again.

The same goes for other issues in our lives. We are a self-absorbed people. We want to live comfortably, have others cater to our whims or at least don’t get in our way, and be allowed to pursue our own happiness. Anything that hinders those desires or stops us from being fulfilled in the way we’ve chosen, can turn us in to whining creatures. Especially if we think God owes us something.

But God doesn’t owe me anything. He never promised to fulfill my dream of being a published book author. He did promise to forgive my sin if I confess it. He never promised to give me a life free of pain and filled with ease. He did promise me eternal life in Heaven where there is no crying or pain or death, if I trust in Him. He never promised me wealth without work or relationships without difficulties. He did promise me riches in Christ and joy beyond compare.

If I hold my earthly dreams in an open hand, giving them to the Lord to do with as He deems best, I might not think about myself so much and can then think more highly of others. Then when a friend realizes her book publishing dreams-come-true and sees it as God’s blessing on her life, I can rejoice with her. Because my God supplied her needs and gave her the desire of her heart, and He has done the same for me in Christ, whether my publishing dreams come true in this life or not.

By the way, I truly am excited for this friend. And not only her – I’ve got three critique partners with books coming out soon and these authors are AWESOME! When they hit the shelves, I’ll be sure to let everyone know.

With two adult sons and one teenage son, it isn’t often we get to spend a day together anymore. But today was one of those special days and we decided to visit the Holocaust Museum.

We took a tour of the site, saw the horror that the Jews and other people had to endure in concentration camps and death camps in various countries during World War II. After the tour, a Polish Jew – a concentration camp survivor – gave an account of how he and his brother lived through the tragedy of those days. Even now, over 60 years later, his voice choked on the memories.

It struck me as I listened to the accounts of what went on all those years ago, that Hitler and men in his regime had a lot to answer for before Almighty God someday. It also struck me that other nations turned Jewish refugees away, and would not enter the war until it became personal to them.

But one country, Denmark, worked hard to protect the Jews. They considered the Jewish people Danish citizens first, Jews second. And they protected their own.

It comes back to those verses I was pondering the other day about Sodom. They didn’t do anything to help the poor and needy. They were proud and full of food and had too much time on their hands and when someone came to them in need, they turned them away.

After walking through that Holocaust Museum, it seems to me that people haven’t changed much in the years since Sodom. The heart of man is deceitful and wicked and humans are capable of extreme atrocities against one another.

We did the same thing to Jesus when He came to earth to die for us, so that our sinful hearts could be changed. “But men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.” So they crucified the Lord of Glory.

But it was His death and resurrection that allows us to find hope and eternal change against our evil natures. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation…”

Only a new creature with a redeemed heart can make the turn from selfishness to humility and love for the poor and needy. Imagine what might have happened to the Jews during WWII if people had allowed the love of God to motivate them, if they had opened their hearts to the poor and needy.

Maybe there wouldn’t have been a need for a Holocaust Museum.

Earlier this week I worked on a Bible study about Lot’s wife. In the course of the study, I read verses about Sodom and the wickedness of that place. Anyone familiar with the story knows that the major abomination the Lord condemned them for was homosexuality. But if you read further into Ezekiel 16:49-50 you find some eye-opening reasons for the city’s destruction.

“Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” NKJV

Pride topped the list of Sodom’s sins, but I find it incredibly interesting that fullness of food and abundant idleness followed in quick succession. Our culture could relate to these things without question.

Reading on, maybe we do a better job of strengthening the hand of the poor and needy. At least I’d like to think so. But haughtiness is a close second to pride and I dare say we all know what that emotion feels like. It’s so easy to look down on someone else for not measuring up to our standards.

In Philippians Paul reminds us to be humble, to think of others as more important than ourselves. Haughtiness and pride won’t stand long against that type of thinking.

The final sin of Sodom – the sexual abomination that they committed before the Lord – was probably the last straw. These other things preceeded that sin. In Genesis it states that every man of the city, young and old and small and great, wanted to “know them carnally” (have sex) with the two men (angels) that came to check out the city. That means that every man was either homosexual or bisexual. It was the last straw that God would no longer abide and he “took them away as he saw fit”.

If we look at our society we will find every one of these things going on around us today. But Sodom’s downfall didn’t start with sexual sin. It began with pride, too much food to eat, too much time on their hands, and a disregard for people who weren’t as well off as they were.

It’s something worth pondering.