ARE YOU WILLING TO COMMIT TO JOY?

The room was filled with hungry writers soaking up wisdom and encouragement from the seasoned editor. She provoked hearts to dig deeper, to trust, to go-for-it.

"Claim your gift, then commit to it." Her words settled firm in mid-air before me.

Before I could examine her persuasive statement she continued with a few key questions to help us recognize whether we had been given a gift to write.

”Do you have a passion for writing?…Does writing bring you joy?…Do others acknowledge your writing?…Are they encouraged?…Inspired?”

The answers to these questions came quickly as if I’d been waiting for someone to ask.

I love to write. I especially love to write about stuff that stirs my heart. Putting words to things in deep places provokes me to examine life in a truthful way.

Passion, check. Joy, check. And though I had received kind commendations toward my writing, they held little weight. Subjective opinions offered some approval, but often felt trivial. My bad. Acknowledgement, meh…okay, check. Yes’s across the board. I actually felt hopeful.

Later that day, a professional author/writing coach asked me, after reading some of my work, if I was an English major.

“No,” I chuckled. “I didn’t really go to college.”

“Wow. You write better than some who are,” she said.

Wow was right! An actual professional author whom I had grown to admire and respect thought I wrote well. It was the push I needed to take my gift seriously.

Finally the “real” issue with my relationship to writing was calling me out: Are you willing to commit?

For years, I dodged this driving question with excuses of why I couldn’t commit. It wasn’t about could or couldn’t at all . . . but will or won’t. The ultimate question that determines whether we succeed or fail was unavoidable: Am I willing to do whatever it might take—to learn, to labor, to sacrifice—all to walk worthy of my gift?

Committing to the craft of writing, or any other activity or calling made me think about my life as a Christian. I am committed to a person—Christ Jesus. God is not passive, but dynamic and requires my willingness to commit my life to knowing and loving Him. My salvation wasn’t earned, like my gift to create, but I must work out my own salvation that God is working in me. Whether to be a Christian—a God-given and Christ-sacrificed atonement that pursues me, or to be a writer—a God-given talent and personal desire to pursue, my willingness is required in the relationship.

To be counted worthy of doing anything well we know we must be dedicated to learning and growing. And we must be willing to labor, to work it out, and to sacrifice for the namesake of the call.

Being an author can and often does become ‘me’ focused. Instead of writing to bless others, it’s easy to become more concerned with pleasing ourselves. The need for acceptance, acknowledgement, and accolades can overtake us. Soon our only joy is found in what others think. This me-focused mindset will always bring failure no matter the success we think we’ve achieved. Leaving our joy in the hands of other people is risky and exhausting. Burn out and resentment will become our fate. Therefore, we must resist engaging our egos to determine our value.

It’s not uncommon to fall into this same trap as a Christian. I shouldn’t be ashamed of what others think when I choose to live my life differently. My defining value is rooted in who Christ is and what God thinks. To know the Lord by studying His words, to love and live like Christ, to labor in prayer and put others first requires my willingness to give up the need for approval from others, and the nagging notion that I must earn God’s love. He has put His salvation in me. The question becomes, am I willing to work it out?

My passion for Jesus beckons me to write. My soul seeks His attention and my desire longs to draw attention to Him. And joy overflows when I am smack dab in the middle of my gifts—writing for Him, with Him and about Him. In His presence is fullness of joy.

What is your passion? Are you single-minded in your pursuit of that passion or are you being tossed between two conflicting opinions?

Commit your will to work out the gift God is working in you. Joy is abundant there.

”Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant.” Galatians 1:10