Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5, NASB)
I was elated, feeling great about my success even though I hadn’t been entirely confident at the outset.
Writers also encounter problems and question their sense of how to respond.
For instance, we can experience a limited audience, lack of connections, sparse funds, doubts about our abilities, and so on. One or all of these scenarios can lead us to spend enormous amounts of time second-guessing ourselves rather than proceeding forward with a confident mindset. In addition, insecurities and fears can paralyze us.
Though we long to be confident writers, we sometimes battle unwelcome thoughts and feelings such as:
• Insecurities about what we know and what we don’t know.
• Insecurities about who will read our words and who won’t.
• Fears of falling and failing.
• Fears of standing out and succeeding.
Christian writer friend, this is not God’s plan for us.
The Lord didn’t entrust us with skills so we could wait for the “perfect” moment to use them. Writing requires faith, the opposite of fear. And faith helps us to be confident—not in ourselves but in the God who has called us to write.
Scripture provides examples we can apply:
• Timothy was afflicted with timidity, which didn’t serve the Lord, others, or even himself well. Perhaps he battled insecurities about his ability to pastor. After all, he was young, and he belonged to a Gentile father. Yet God chose Timothy. He planted gifts and talents inside him with the precise purpose of using this godly man as a pastor. Plus, the Holy Spirit equipped Timothy along the way, strengthening him to accomplish the Lord’s purpose for his life.
• Remember also the parable of the talents in Matthew 25? The servant who caved in to fear angered his master because he wasted money by not investing it. In the same way, we squander God’s gift to us when we hide our writings from others. The Lord desires to speak through us, and we’re responsible to share each message He provides. Our adequacy rests in the One who created us, and the words we write as Christians carry eternal significance.
Let’s not nurse our insecurities or cave in to fear. Instead, let’s hold our Father’s hand as the confident writer He created each of us to be.
We’ll be elated with the success He brings.
