This is a question that I constantly ask myself. In January of 2010 I felt a sudden compulsion to begin writing and it resulted in my first book being published. Before then, I hated the practice. After that January, though, I began writing simply because I loved it, and I still do. Until this point, I have made sure that everything I have written served God’s glory in some way, but within the last few days I was convicted of writing for my own enjoyment rather than writing for specifically as worship to God.

My favorite thing about the practice is making connections between abstract thoughts and drawing conclusions from those connections. I find absolute joy in it. In writing I can organize thoughts that are otherwise random and dysfunctional fragments of information inhabiting my mind. In being able to do this, and in doing it, it seems as though I have built an unstable palace for myself. All of the words are about God, but I am the one who dwells in the construction. This might just be the worst place I could find myself. This is, of course, the concern with which God convicted me.

I must, therefore, resolve to make my carrying motivation more than just the fact that writing makes me happy. It must become an act of worship to God and it must embody the same character with which I have committed to sing praises to God or with which I have committed to having when I speak in front of people. Since I began writing, I have seen my work as ministry, as my ministry and it must become something greater. It must be God’s ministry through me and as such should always build up God’s Church.

From this day forward, when I write I will always do so to the benefit of God’s Church and in worship of God Himself. There will be no sarcasm that so hinders its ministry or that may tear down some who may read. While I will give my thoughts on various subjects, I will now do so in a way that respects the types of people who, before, I have been sarcastic about. This is no longer about my work. It is about worshipping God and about building up God’s Church and as a result, what I write will be much more beneficial to those who read and much more honoring to God. This is the way I think we, God’s people, should approach everything that we do.

Thus, I feel it necessary to develop, even if not extensively, a personal philosophy toward writing as a practice in worship to God. For my fellow writers, I hope that you will do the same. To my readers, I hope that you benefit even more than you have been able to in the past. This, then, is my resolution as a writer and I hope that you will all help to keep me accountable to such a resolution.

1. I will always encourage others to consider the word of God as a higher authority than my thoughts concerning God’s Word.
2. I will write as worship to God and as I write, God will remain my one motivation.
3. As I worship God in writing, I will always consider the betterment of His Church and will abstain from any slander whatsoever against members of His Church.
4. I will remember that God’s Church does not depend on my ability as a writer nor on my knowledge or ability to organize that knowledge. God’s Church is dependant on God alone and I dare not attempt to take God’s place as the sole provider for His people.
5. I will graciously receive criticism for I am never beyond learning and I will never be more knowledgeable than everyone else on God’s earth. I can always learn from anyone.
6. I will always praise God for the ability that He has given me and when others praise me, I will graciously accept it as worship to God, for He is the One who gives any person talents to use for His kingdom.

When I write, I do so for this reason and this reason alone: to worship the God who saved me, even out of my own depravity. The same is true as I do music, as I paint, as I speak publicly or even as I am in the woods on my own.

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for Gods glory.”[1]