God created us each with our own unique gifts, yet the world wants us to be who we are not. Satan wants us to ignore who we were made to be or use our God-given talents to bring attention to ourselves and forget to acknowledge the One who gave us those gifts. That’s just the world we live in. A world where everyone is wearing a mask of who they want to be perceived as not who they really are. A world where if you’re not pretending, you’re not significant.
Something I struggled with in my early years of writing was creating content that reflected who I was in my heart. Sharing words and thoughts that reflect who I live for. We live in a society where any mention of God is an immediate excuse for the nearest exit. All the new “popular” books aren’t written by Christian authors or mention the name of Jesus. When outlining my novel for the first time, I was unsure how to write something that anyone could pick up and enjoy. I wanted so badly for my writing to be liked by whoever it crossed paths with. I wanted to please people. It was only when I tried to start writing my book that I knew it would be impossible not to incorporate my faith. How could I write a story with internal conflict and character arcs and resolution without any real hope, faith, trust, or actual valuable lessons? My characters had no depth, and their internal conflict and desires were simply driven by their worldly ambitions. Their happy ending wasn’t truly happy. Their hope wasn’t really hope. Their faith wasn’t really faith at all.
“But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not intending to please people, but to please God, who examines our hearts.”
1 Thessalonians 2:4
Sometimes it’s hard as a believer to do what pleases God and not people. We want fame and recognition, and this applies to absolutely all areas of our lives. Yet the thing I come back to time and time again is this: I don’t want people to see me and my accomplishments in what I do, I want them to see Him. Through my writing and with everything else I do in life, I think my greatest accomplishment would be that God would use what I do as an arrow toward Him. And there’s so much satisfaction and joy in simply that. Something even the most popular and wealthy people will never get to enjoy. They will always be in this constant state of fighting for the top.
Dear reader, I encourage you to keep doing whatever it is God has called you to do but with the mindset of pleasing Him, rather than the world. It’s not easy, but you eventually find that’s the best part. It’s not easy, it’s not looked at as normal or popular or the “right way” to success—but that’s exactly how it should be when you have a Kingdom mindset.
Please God, not people. I promise you will find yourself living a much more joy-filled and truly rich life just by living out that 4 word, life-changing yet challenging reminder.
Let’s talk! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below 🙂
SHINE ON,
BROOKLYN
Five Shekels 