by Cynthia Ruchti
Writers are used to wrestling words to the ground...or to their computer screens. We're used to wrestling with our weight from a naturally sedentary lifestyle. We know the strain of wrestling to understand royalty statements and publishing processes.
How skilled are we at wrestling negative thoughts into submission, corralling them behind iron gates where they can no longer pester and perturb?
And yet, that's the charge to us as expressed in II Corinthians 10:3-5 CEB. "Although we live (and write) in the world, we don't fight our battles with human methods. our weapons that we fight with aren't human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments, and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
One would think a novelist would have a good handle on this concept. We mold and shape words to fit our story's purpose. We craft dialogue to make it match emotion and action. We invent and reinvent endings, including the spiritual arc of our characters.
They want to scamper off into one too many dangers. We rein them in. They try to act unlike who they are. We won't let that happen unless it serves the story's purpose.
Why, then, do we often let negative thoughts run roughshod over us? And what does it look like to "capture every thought and make it obedient to Christ" regarding our writing life?
Out of control thought:
I'm stuck.
Christ-obedient, reined in thought:
He's never stymied regarding what comes next. The closer I draw to Him, the more likely I am to find my answer, my next move.
Out of control:
No one will want my manuscript anyway.
Captured:
I write in obedience to Christ, whether it ever goes farther than my laptop or not.
Out of control:
My sales numbers stink.
Captured:
God is well aware of who needs to read this story and will do whatever He has to in order to knock down the barriers that stand between the story and those readers.
Out of control:
The publishing industry is making it impossible to succeed.
Captured:
Nothing is impossible with God.
Out of control:
I don't have time to write and market and build relationships and tend to my family.
Captured:
He wouldn't call me to something that He's unwilling to equip me to do.
Out of control:
Other authors are enjoying a success I'll never know.
Captured:
God says it's foolish to compare myself against others and their call. HIS call on MY life should be my foremost concern.
At the beginning of this new week, we face a fresh opportunity to create stories, to capture imagination and make it work for us. We also face fresh opportunities to take negative thoughts captive. How many will you corral before the week's end?
Thank you so much for these reminders, Cynthia. Over many years now I have proved them so true and yet still need reminders at times that God IS in control, and knows my every need which He alone can fully supply.
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