This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.  Psalm 102:18

People who write books are paragons of faith. They have no proof anyone will ever read what they write or if they will recoup the investment of their time and money.  And yet, they write on.

Aren’t we thankful for people who write books!

After all…

When you write a book, you give away a piece of yourself.  You have spent countless hours secreted away laboring over a pad with a pen or typing away on the laptop.  If you’re like me, you have wept and fussed, stopped to look something up, asked your spouse if this is the right word, and sent up periodic prayers that this would work and make a difference in someone’s life.

When they hold the book in their hands, they’re holding a piece of you.

When you write a book, you touch parts of the world you will never travel to, people you will never see, and make a difference you will not learn of in this lifetime.  This is a faith venture of the first sort.

When they hold the book in their hands, they touch the fruit of your life.

When you write a book, you touch the future.  Perhaps your book will live forever and never be out of print–does C. S. Lewis in Heaven see this and smile?–or someone will come across your book a century from now in some obscure storage and read it as a lark and find themselves being blessed.  Either way, big fruit or small, you are sending your witness into the future.

When they hold the book in their hands, they hold a bit of history for themselves and a great deal of joy for you.

When you write a book, you force yourself to ask vital questions: Who am I addressing here? What do I hope to accomplish? Why do I think that I of all people have something to share? Am I willing to reveal my inadequacies to the world? to subject myself to the criticism of those who delight in finding fault with anything and everything?  Can I do this for one reason and one alone, to obey the will of God?

When they hold the book in their hands, they have the answer to your questions.

When you write a book, you give your descendants a piece of you to carry into their lives.  You bear a witness–if you do it right–in a way which possibly no one else in their lives will do.  This means I may be the only grandparent or great-grand, etc., to put my testimony and witness into written form to help them along the way. We send it forth in the hope that descendants yet unborn will find it and read it and be changed by it.  That is our constant prayer.

When they hold the book in their hands, they learn more about God.

So, write your book, man and woman of God. 

People far away and some in the distant future need to hear what you have learned, know what God has done in your life, see what has been revealed to you, as only you can tell it.

Do not listen to that voice inside saying that others have done it better. Sure they have.  But this is not a competition.  No one else can tell your story better than you.  You are the authority on your testimony.

If you love the Lord Jesus Christ and there are people you love dearly, then writing your book can be a giant step to bringing them together.

Get to writing.