Why You Should Write That Novel if You’re a Christian Author

So you’re a Christian who follows God with all your heart, and you keep getting this inner nudge that you’re supposed to write a novel. Maybe you even have a great idea for a story simmering in your imagination.

So what’s stopping you?*

Maybe the better question is, do you know that your story will have the potential to change lives as God works through the words you write and speaks to the hearts of your readers?

If you’re a reader of faith-based fiction, then you know what I’m talking about. You’re having a horrible day and you somehow manage to make it to bed, where you typically read some fiction and some Bible for a bit before lights-out. You don’t even feel like reading, but you pick up the novel to start with. Then you read something that takes your breath away. It lifts your spirit out of the gloom. And you know to your very core that God is whispering to your heart through the words you just read.

No work of fiction is on par with the Bible, the very inspired Word of God offered to humanity as life-giving water for our souls. But when a Christ-follower writes a novel because he or she feels prompted by God to do so, it opens the door for God to speak through the story to readers right where they’re at in life.

And please do not confuse this with writing a story because you have some message or moral to share with the world. The point of writing a novel is to tell a good story—NOT to share a message from a soapbox. If you pen a good story while being open to the whisperings of God’s Spirit as you write, then the message and the morals will be woven throughout the story, without having to beat the reader over the head with them.

So, again, what’s stopping you? Not enough time? Fear of failure? Whatever it may be, I want to leave you with a quote from a 2005 online interview with author Robert Liparulo:

“I struggled with the whole idea of, ‘Has God given me this gift to write so that I can write entertainment?’ And I really struggled with this; I had friends praying for me. A couple of friends sent me some articles on vocation and how God blesses other people through you. And I learned that if you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, how God wired you, then God is blessing others through you. If you don’t do that, you’re withholding the blessings that God intends for other people.”

Robert Liparulo has now written and published several books that are reaching readers around the world. Go and do likewise if it’s part of God’s call on your life.

*Okay, I’ll agree that, yes, you may have some really good reasons for not writing the novel or novels that God has placed on your heart: a physical issue of some sort, a family crisis, etc. And that’s fine. If God wants you to write a story, he’ll provide you with a season of opportunity to do so—but remember you’ll still have to make a serious commitment of your time and energy.