October 4th, 2007

I was reading Galatians 3:26-4:7 this morning, and it struck me—how do these verses make a difference to the Christian author? Here are some excerpts:

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Remember the illustration where we are told to picture ourselves in a new white outfit that God has given us? And that this should remind us not to sin? Well guess what? That outfit is Christ himself! When we go and play in the mud, we're not just smearing dirt on God's clean cloth. We are smearing it on the Son of God!

So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of this world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

We are no longer slaves to sin! We no longer have to follow the principles of the world nor obey it when it commands us.

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."

We have been adopted! We can call out to God as our "Abba" and have a loving relationship with him.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Okay, I covered the slavery part above. But the inheritance! Ahh! We have been made princes and princesses in God's kingdom. The KING HIMSELF is our father! Not to waste our time, but to serve those in the kingdom through the gifts and inheritance God has given.

My questions are these:

1. Have our books and our book writing been baptized into Christ?
2. Are our books free from the slavery to the world?
3. When a book is finished, will someone read it and say, "This book brought me closer to God?" and "Did this book encourage me to get out of the mud?"

But even with these questions answered properly, we still cannot forget about craft. If we do not craft our books well, virtually no one will read them. If we are serious about serving the kingdom in this way—as Christian authors—then we must take our craft seriously without neglecting the former questions.