Menu Close

Tag: God

God in Fantasy Fiction – To Be or Not to Be?

Tracey Dyck 48 Comments

A Forward

About five weeks ago, while slogging through edits on The Brightest Thread, I hit a substantial snag. A capital G snag–God. In the novella version of the story, there was no mention of a deity at all, and I was quite all right with that. (More on that later.) But now that I was fleshing out the storyworld, I was finding it increasingly difficult to deal with

a) magic with no explained source,
b) a vaguely referenced act of creation,
and c) the existence of false gods but no True God.

I avoided the issue for as long as I could. When I was forced to face it head on, I hemmed and hawed, I complained to my family, and then I dumped the contents of my brain into a fresh document, which I promptly sent as an S.O.S.: DESPERATE HELP NEEDED to a writing buddy.

Turns out the brain dump and the following conversation were rather insightful, and probably a topic of interest to both writers and readers.

To Be or Not to Be?

Christian writers get hung up on a lot of things. One of the biggest? God in fiction. Should we include Him or omit Him? If we include Him, how do we keep from being preachy or trite? Will “religion” (for lack of a better term) feature heavily in the story, or will it be a light dose? If we omit God, does that run contrary to our faith, or can it be done in a way that still glorifies Him? Should we even be having this dilemma? Shouldn’t it be a question of incorporating our fiction into God, not the other way around?

As you can see, many of us are bound up in fear over getting it right. How can we possibly fit all of God into a finite story? But that’s the thing. We can’t.

Even when writing a human character that literally exists only in your brain, you can’t fit everything about them onto the page. Whether you’re the kind of writer who keeps pages of details on your characters’ personalities, appearances, and histories, or the kind of writer who keeps their characters as a cast of imaginary friends in your head, the fact remains. You know more about your character than what appears in the story. (And if you don’t, you don’t know them well enough yet.)

Now try writing yourself as a character—you can’t fit even half of your personality on the page, and the bits you do write, you may struggle to portray accurately. (I suppose authors of memoirs and autobiographies have room for more of themselves, but even reading a book entirely about a single individual is still vastly different from sitting down and getting to know them face to face. There is always—always—more in person.)

So try writing everything about God’s nature into a book. The only book that succeeded in that is the Bible, and I’m pretty sure there’s even more we’ll learn about Him in heaven! He is infinite, after all. Therefore . . .

Point #1: You can’t fit all of God into your book. Instead, try to convey one or two aspects about Him, something that can be grasped or explored throughout the story.

And here’s another:

Point #2: God can show up in fiction in two ways: as a theme or as a character.

Truth, love, and light show up anytime I write. That’s just who I am. God is love, and He is the source of truth and light. So whether He is directly named or not, stories containing truth, love, and light bring Him honor because they are aspects of His nature. This is where God can be woven into a story’s theme.

But sometimes a fantasy story calls for an allegorical representation of God. This is where He shows up as a character, and this is possibly the hardest thing to get right. (But remember point #1!) He may be visible to other characters and may interact with them face to face. Or He may be invisible, referenced only as other characters pray, worship, or think about Him.
Or there’s a third option where God may show up as a character and as part of the theme.

So which is right for your story?

I can’t answer that for you. That’s something for you to think about, pray about, and experiment with. But I can offer a few thoughts and questions to get you going!

Pros and cons of God as a character

Pros
  • We’ve all wished God was physically here in front of us (at least I have!). Living vicariously through the characters, we get to imagine what it will be like to talk to Him face to face, touch Him, and hear Him speak. If written well, this can be very powerful for you, the characters, and the readers.
  • If you’re writing an allegory, particularly if it’s an allegory of Jesus’s life on earth, you’ll likely need a God-figure walking around.
  • It brings across an immediacy, a tangible presence.
  • It can breathe fresh life into our perception of God, especially when you shake up the uber religious picture of God as a stern, old man with a beard who zaps people from heaven. Let’s see Him laughing, enjoying life and people! Let’s see Him cry. Let’s see the real Jesus of the Bible, but with different skin on.
Cons
  • You have to put words into God’s mouth. That leaves you with two options: quoting directly from Scripture (which can feel shoehorned into the story), or penning your own words (and running the risk of portraying God inaccurately).
  • Therefore you may not feel comfortable writing Him as a character.
  • It takes a great deal of skill to write a God-figure that feels authentic and true to His nature. If your character falls short, well . . . Let’s just say that chances are high He’s quite important to your story, so a lot of it may crumble with Him.
  • Limiting an infinite being to a finite body can make Him come across as too small.
Examples that shone
  • Aslan (Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis) – Warm, mighty, mysterious, faithful, sacrificial. It’s hard to even begin to sum him up! Perhaps the most succinct description is, “He’s not a tame lion, you know.” There’s something wild, something awe-inspiring, about him. In this case, putting God in the finite body of a lion was not a disadvantage at all–as a reader, I always felt there was something more to him than what I could see. Something otherworldly.
  • Prince Aethelbald (Tales of Goldstone Wood, Anne Elisabeth Stengl) – As a picture of Jesus as the Lover of our souls, he persistently woos Una though she rejects him time and time again. Aethelbald is nothing remarkable to look at. Even his name is the furthest thing from romantic. But his heart beats truer and stronger than any of her other suitors, and by the time I finished reading Heartless, I was stunned by the incredible allegory. Again, presenting God as a flesh-and-blood character could have come across badly, but Anne Elisabeth Stengl gave him the same “something more” element that Aslan has. (Coincidentally, both characters hail from across the sea. Interesting.)

Pros and cons of God as a theme

Pros
  • This approach is more subtle.
  • It leaves the spotlight on human beings exemplifying Christ-like attributes, rather than putting them all into one character who represents God. These humans don’t have to be perfect (in fact, please don’t make them that way!), but they serve as examples for us to reach toward.
  • This can make your story more accessible to readers who don’t consider themselves to be Christians, while still reflecting God in a beautiful way.
  • Not every story needs a Savior or Creator. Some are actually better off without it. It’s all about the story’s scope and purpose.
Cons
  • On the other hand, some stories do need a Savior/Creator character. In the case of The Brightest Thread, I had written in some false gods to give the storyworld more depth and texture. But by doing so, I created an imbalance, and then had to invent a God-like figure. If I had left God solely as the immaterial theme of the story, it wouldn’t have sat well with me.
  • Without a God to rely on, your heroes’ journeys may feel like they fall flat. Depending on what kind of story you’re writing, your characters may need a higher power to bring about true transformation.
  •  Again, depending on the scope of your story, the themes you’ve so carefully woven into your story may be misconstrued as new age or a Disney-fied “follow your heart” sort of message.
Examples that shone
  • Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)- Okay, okay, I know there technically is a God-figure (Ilúvatar), but to my knowledge he isn’t really mentioned in LotR. However, we can all agree that numerous characters exemplify godly attributes like courage, love, kindness, wisdom, justice, grace, etc. Watching Frodo suffer as he carried the ring to Mordor, seeing Sam remain faithful to his friend the whole way, witnessing Gandalf face the Balrog . . . these examples impacted me more than some fictional God-figures have.
  • Reapers (Bryan Davis) – Technically this isn’t fantasy, it’s dystopian. (And God may come up later in the trilogy, I don’t know.) But despite the fact that God isn’t talked about, Phoenix embarks on a journey that will position him as a hero. A person who rescues the oppressed, who speaks for the voiceless, who defends the defenseless. All qualities that inspire us to do the same.
A note: these lists are in no way exhaustive, and they’re not meant to sow doubt in your mind, dear writer! There are so many combinations of writing God as a character and/or as a theme (because you can definitely do both in the same story), and so many degrees therein. This whole post is meant simply to inspire careful consideration and deeper thought.

This isn’t a salvation story

That’s what I said when wrestling with the God question for The Brightest Thread. And even after deciding to incorporate a fictional God, the fact remained. This novel is not about a character “getting saved” or “finding Jesus.” Some novels are, and that’s great! But this particular novel is about two people sharing a love strong enough that they would each risk everything for the sake of the other; and about being willing to receive that kind of sacrificial love. That’s it.
Characters briefly question God (who goes by another name in the novel), and they briefly reach out for His help. But these protagonists’ journeys are not about faith.
I was discussing this with my writing buddy, and brought up the topic of evangelism. In leadership college last year, my leader said something that revolutionized the way I look at evangelizing. To paraphrase:

If a 0 is not knowing Christ, and a 10 is giving your life to Him, we often think that we have to bring someone from 0 to 10 all at once. But maybe all you’re supposed to do in that encounter is bring someone from, say, a 3 to a 4. Just one step closer to knowing Jesus. You don’t need to force a conversion on the spot. The next Christian to come along may bump that person up to a 5. Or you might be the person to meet someone at 9, and you get the chance to pray with them and see them become a 10.

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6

[via Pinterest]
Maybe it’s the same in fiction. We don’t have to bring every character to a 10, nor do we have to do that for every reader. Maybe we just plant a seed. Or maybe the story is the water making it grow. What’s important is that we are discipling.

Playing matchmaker

My writing buddy subconsciously uses a really cool method of figuring out how to portray God in her stories. She looks at what her story’s theme is about–aka, what her main characters need to learn–and she traces that back to an aspect of God.

For example, one of her characters needed to learn about the importance of mercy over justice. So in that particular story, the God-figure’s mercy and love are highlighted. She doesn’t spend a lot of time on other topics, like God’s wisdom or power or holiness. Just what’s central to the theme. The result is a beautifully woven tapestry that doesn’t bonk the reader over the head with an ill-written sermon.

However . . .

Please, please, PLEASE don’t preach.

All of this stuff about figuring out how to portray God and tie in themes and character arcs may be better left as something to study after you’ve written your story! Especially if you’re prone to write from a soapbox.

More and more, I’m learning that the process of writing a transformative story is supposed to transform me first, otherwise it’s not authentic.

Writing themes that spring organically from the soil of character conflict and worldbuilding takes practice. A lot of it. But don’t let that discourage you from trying, because that’s how we all grow.

My friend told me, “Most of the time my characters teach ME things, instead of me trying to teach readers things.” Couldn’t have said it better myself! So when you’re writing God into your stories, let Him surprise you. Let go of what you think you know, and see what happens.

“He who has ears, let him hear.”

How and if you choose to convey God in fiction depends largely on your intended audience. But regardless of whether you’re writing mainstream or for the Christian community, regardless of whether it’s YA or middle grade or adult, resist the urge to explain yourself.


Jesus didn’t. In the parables He told to the masses, His Father sometimes appeared as a landowner, a farmer sowing seed, a shepherd, a literal father, a master, a groom, and more. But most of the time, Jesus didn’t explain the metaphor to His listeners. He left that up to them. Because when a person puzzles out the hidden meaning of a story themselves, the meaning sticks.

I think Jesus knew that those who were ready to know Him would find Him.

Keep Reading

11 Things to Do When Your Writing Feels Like Rubbish

Tracey Dyck 30 Comments
graphics mine, image via Pinterest 

What happens when you spend your week absorbed in writing and putting in your hours at work and neglect to plan ahead? The blog schedule falls by the wayside, that’s what! I apologize for missing Saturday, folks. (Although you did get a bonus post last Wednesday, so you can’t complain too much.) I decided to pop in this fine Wednesday as well, because I’ve got something important to discuss with you.

A couple days ago, a lovely young lady reached out and asked for advice on her writing dilemma.

“I’ve had a lot of trouble writing lately, feeling like my work is rubbish, and sounds cheap. I took a little break and want to get back to it now but I still feel like my work is not cutting it.”

Her timing was uncanny, because that’s similar to what I was going through last week. In fact, it’s something every writer contends with. So here are some ideas to get out of that slump!*

*I’m pretty sure about 72.8% of the items on my list are things I’ve unconsciously pilfered from other sources, but that’s neither here nor there.

1. Study other writers’ work

Sometimes when you feel like your writing is junk, it’s not because you’ve fallen out of love with your idea, your plot, or your characters, but with the very writing itself. I sporadically go through slumps where it feels like I’ve forgotten how to string one word after another. Every paragraph sounds the same, and I get sick of it very quickly.

One way to jumpstart your way out of that is to pick up a book by a favorite author, someone who really knows his or her craft. Copy a few pages of their book out on paper or a fresh Word doc. The physical act of retyping every word will make you pay attention to their style, voice, and sentence construction–and it may just breathe some fresh life into your own.

A slight caveat: when you return to writing your story, this may make your first chapter or two sound like Jane Austen or J.R.R. Tolkien or Maggie Stiefvater or whomever you copied. (That happens to me sometimes even when I’m just casually reading! Suddenly half a page sounds like a knockoff of somebody else before it returns to my voice.) It’s pretty much the writer’s version of osmosis, but it will pass, and some editing later on will get those copycat words to sound more like your own.

2. Reread the parts of your writing that you love

I wrote/edited my way to the end of The Brightest Thread recently, but it’s still too short, so I’m rereading everything to see where else I can make additions. As I was reading over it, my mom pointed out that I was grinning at my laptop. The scene I’d been reading was just too wonderful not to smile!

I don’t say that as a pat on the back, but merely to point out that remembering the scenes you’re proud of is a great way to produce another good one. When you’re deep in the drafting or editing stage, your focus is often on one scene, one sentence–goodness, even one word–at a time. You’re too close to your work, especially when editing, and so it’s easy to see all the flaws. But going back to refresh your memory will bring to mind the parts that really shine, which may be just the boost of confidence you need.

3. Give yourself permission to write junk

I picked this lesson up from Gail Carson Levine’s lovely little book called Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly. Sometimes you’re just in a slump, okay? That’s no reason to beat yourself up, because we all have been there, and unless you find the magical elixir that allows you to transfer your brilliant stories from your mind to the page with a snap of your fingers, you’ll fall into a slump again. That’s not meant to be a discouragement, dear writer. Just a reminder that you’ve been there before, and you got out of it. You’re in it now, but you’ll get out of it. And you’ll be there again, and once more you’ll get out of it.

In the meantime, allow yourself to write junk.

Even if it means typing I AM NOW COMMENCING THE GARBAGE FEST AND ALL WORDS FOLLOWING ARE JUNK, JUNK, JUNK on the page, do it. Even if it means talking to yourself in the middle of a scene–Bartholomew drew his sword and yelled, “That’s the last time you’ll do anything of the sort!” Good grief, this is lame. Bart has obviously been reading cheap comic books and picking up bad habits. Gotta get him some better reading material. The dark knight chuckled darkly and replied, “The dark will always win, little hero.” AYE KARUMBA, EVERYTHING IS DARK AND DASTARDLY AND UTTER GARBAGE–



Do it.

Eventually, you’ll find that the junk gives way to something halfway decent. Write yourself straight through that slump! I’ve heard it said that done is better than perfect.

4. Write something else

Take a break from that story you’re so worried is rubbish, and switch gears. Pull out a writing prompt, make up a writing exercise, write some fanfiction, whatever! Try your hand at a genre you’ve never attempted and scribble out a page or two. Dream up some new narrative technique and experiment. If you normally write lyrically, go for something stark. If you’ve been writing in first person, try omniscient. If fantasy is your gig, try out a Victorian mystery. You don’t have to finish it; the point is simply to limber up those writing muscles again. Creativity feeds creativity.

5. Stop comparing

One of the quickest routes to feeling depressed as a writer (or as a person) is to play the comparison game. We tend to place our worst flaws alongside someone else’s greatest strengths. Of course that’s going to be discouraging! Put everyone else out of your mind and just write. Write your story, your way. This is especially crucial when you’re on a first draft! They’re never perfect.
It’s also important to remember that everyone is at a different place on their journey. It isn’t fair to yourself to compare your WIP with a bestselling author’s thirtieth novel. I would even go so far as to say, if you’ve completed stories in the past, don’t even compare your WIP to your polished drafts. Those two stories are at different stages. It’s like complaining your apple tree is dying because the apple you just picked is green and unripe, and not at all like the beautiful red one you bought at the store.

6. Give yourself time

I can be straight with you brave souls, right? If you’re sensitive to criticism, skip to the next point, but if you want the unvarnished truth, then here it is:

If you feel like your writing is rubbish, you might be right.

I refused to even think it back when I started writing seriously. I thought my stories were amazing. Some of them were amazingly awful, but I didn’t realize it at the time, and that’s okay. It’s okay I didn’t see it, and it’s okay that they were awful. The beautiful thing about any skill is that it can be grown. And when it comes to something growing, time is absolutely necessary. You may not be where you want to be as a writer just yet, but you’re on your way! Accept where you are right now, dream about where you’re going, and then put in the work to get there.

Malcolm Gladwell said in his book Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert at anything. Whether that’s scientifically accurate or not, the principle remains: you need practice and time to grow your skill set.

On another note, you need to give yourself time with this particular story. Maybe it hasn’t had a chance to fully develop, and both you and the story are experiencing growing pains. Be patient, and as I said before–you can write your way through this.

7. Read voraciously

This is the more organic sibling of point number 1 (study other writers’ work). When my writing is suffering, one of the frequent common denominators is that my reading is suffering too. Give yourself a few days away from your manuscript–or weeks if you’re in a really bad place–and consume someone else’s stories for a change!

8. Learn voraciously

As you’re giving yourself time and giving yourself permission to write junk, you know you don’t want to stay there. You want to improve. So if writing is something you’re serious about pursuing, read some good books or blog posts about the writing craft! If you can afford it, attend a workshop or a conference. Go to book signings or author events. Ask questions.

On the topic of blog posts, by the way–you may want to be choosy. I’m totally undermining myself here, but look for the blogs/websites of people who are “ahead of you” on the writing road, so to speak. Of course, I believe you can learn from absolutely anyone, including peers and also those who may be “behind you.” But you’re more likely to learn something new from someone who’s more experienced than you are. Many published authors provide helpful advice online. (I’ve actually wanted to do a post on writing resources ever since I started blogging. One of these days!)

But the main thing is that you learn.

9. Get critiqued

Alone, you can only see 180 degrees, yes? But with a friend, you can see 360 degrees. No matter how good you are at writing, you’ll miss something, so it’s helpful to get a few more sets of eyes on your work to help you pick out the trouble spots, inconsistencies, and snags.

Peers make great beta readers, and if you can manage to get feedback from a professional, that’s golden! You might not be able to pinpoint what’s wrong with your writing, you just know something feels off. But someone with more distance might be able to give you that eureka moment.

10. Recognize outside factors

I mentioned earlier that last week was rough writing-wise. Partway through, I realized it wasn’t just because the actual writing was slow. So, feeling frustrated and unhappy, I examined the issue and found out that:

a) I was filling all my free time with writing, and then staying up too late doing things like reading books or blogs to relax–so I wasn’t getting the rest I needed
and b) there had been a few stressful incidents at work that made my shifts more draining than usual.

Feelings are just signals! A negative feeling is like a window popping up on your computer to tell you that something is wrong. It doesn’t always mean your writing is trash, and it certainly never means that you are trash.

Life isn’t separated into neat little boxes. So many things can affect your writing: health, sleep, relationships, stress, finances. So when you hit an authorial slump, consider what else might be a contributing factor, and give yourself the grace to deal with that situation.

11. Pray

Everyone makes tidy lists of ten, but I couldn’t leave this eleventh point out. The biggest outside factor is your relationship with God. Take this from someone struggling with her devotional life as we speak: when you’re not spending time with God, whether that be reading the Bible, praying, or taking a walk while listening to worship music, everything else in life suffers. Including your writing.

I know, I know how it feels. Not all of you are task-driven people, but for those of you who are: I understand that putting off writing to pray or even to relax with a good book feels like . . . well, not necessarily time wasted, but time not spent writing.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. -Matthew 6:33 NIV

The thing is, you can’t afford not to pursue God. And when it comes down to it, isn’t He the most creative being to ever exist? Didn’t He hang the stars and fashion chimpanzees and create thunderstorms with just a word? You, dear writer, dear soul, are created in the image of the Creator! You are a creative being–that’s part of your very nature–but your creativity flourishes best when it is fed by a thriving bond with your Creator.

And that’s all the advice I have today, my friends. I’m off to go practice what I just preached (The Brightest Thread, here I come!), but before I go . . .

Stay tuned for Saturday, because I have a very special guest joining us!

Keep Reading

I Graduated!

Tracey Dyck 30 Comments


“Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different?”

These wise words by C.S. Lewis have always struck a chord in me, but perhaps never as strongly as here at the end of college. Because looking back, it’s been one crazy amazing adventure from start to finish. But in the day to day, I experienced hard moments, challenges, frustrations–long days when it felt like no matter how much time or energy I poured into it, nothing was changing. Yet now that it’s over, I look back and I am astounded at the ways I and my classmates have transformed this year.

Of course, none of that would have been possible without some very key people!

My teachers. (I nicknamed them Bob and Larry for their opposite personalities.) Both are very wise, godly men who have become dear mentors to me. They taught me and my classmates, coached us, equipped us, and poured their hearts into us.

The ministry leads. They were all amazing, but this year I got the chance to work under the leadership of the fantastic people in the youth department and the creative department. In youth, my love for teens grew even deeper, and my courage strengthened as I took opportunities to form relationships with them, teach them, and serve them. In creative, I learned new skills with my hands, started thinking outside the box more and more, and realized how much work and forethought go into event planning.

My family and friends. Without a home base of people who loved me, understood my crazy schedule, and supplied me with food, hugs, and listening ears, this year would’ve been a lot harder! Their support, encouragement, and of course prayers made a big difference.

My classmates. They rocked! I learned something from each and every one of them, whether they were aware of it or not. The team we formed got some pretty darn remarkable things done during these past nine months of college, and some of the friendships I formed will last a long time.

I have learned so much at college. Leadership principles, people skills, communication and public speaking, how to serve wholeheartedly, relationship building, and the list goes on. I’ve learned more about God, His Word, and His real purpose for my life.

But it’s one thing to acquire more head knowledge–you can pick up a new book or take a class just about anywhere. It’s a whole other thing to actually apply what you’ve learned, and that was one of the best things about this program.

Through designing chapels for elementary and high school, doing group projects, ministry afternoons, and volunteering at youth, inner city, and big events, we got many chances to really live out exactly what we were being taught.

Perhaps the biggest example of this was the day camp we planned from the ground up. Working on that project, we actually had to lead both each other and the kids. We had to work with each other’s personalities. We saw each other’s strengths shine out, and we came face to face with each other’s flaws. Yet we still chose to build a team, a family.

As a recovering perfectionist, I learned to beat the shame storm. Excellence is just doing the best you can with what you have, and that is enough.

I grew in my public speaking. In September, presenting a speech brought on nervous butterflies and even dizziness. But just two days ago, I delivered a valedictorian speech at grad and–apart from shedding a few tears–felt pretty comfortable behind the mic. (This post, in fact, is a modified version of that grad speech.)

I stepped out of my comfort zone, especially in the area of leadership as I was put in charge of the aforementioned day camp.

Some of my D personality* classmates rubbed off on me, and I became more direct and honest with others, lessening my people pleasing side a bit.

*from the DISC system; D’s are the direct people who cut to the chase and get stuff done.


I learned better strategies for managing my time.

I learned that life is all about relationships, and that tasks are secondary (and really are meant to serve relationships in the first place).

I learned to ask why, to stay curious, and to apply new knowledge to my life at this very moment.

I learned in a greater way that we are all reflections of God’s nature, and so is everything that’s right and true in the world.

It’s been said, “In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.”

My classmates and I took many forward steps between September and now, and it would be easy to stop there, to think of this as the end. Truthfully, I’ve just begun this journey. Many new chapters lie ahead. But I’m well-armed with the tools God has helped me forge this year. I’m sad to see my year at college come to a close, because I’ve made so many good memories. But as my classmates and I move into new adventures, we’ll be cheering each other on.

And faith tells me that no matter what lies ahead, God is already there.

Keep Reading

Worth the Cross

Tracey Dyck 16 Comments

Today we celebrate a cross and an empty tomb. A death and a resurrection. The darkest night of all, when the hope of the world seemed to be extinguished, gone forever . . . and the brightest morning ever beheld, when that Hope returned victorious.

We wear crosses around our necks and hang them from our cars’ rear-view mirrors. We sing about the empty tomb and the risen Savior, and these things are beautiful–truly. But I, for one, often forget the power behind these symbols and lyrics. I forget that Jesus went to the cross for me.

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

He surely had seen Roman crucifixions before–the excruciating pain of the lashing, the slow suffocation–and I’m sure He could well imagine the spiritual pain of bearing the sin of the entire world on His shoulders. But knowing all that, He still gave Himself up willingly. And as the whip fell, as the crown of thorns dug into His scalp, as the nails were driven through His wrists, as a hail of insults flew, as He lost sight of His own Father . . . He could have put a stop to it at any time. He could have called legions of angels to His aid (Matthew 26:53), and who knows what He could have done Himself. Going to the cross was not one single choice. It was a choice He made moment by painful moment–again and again and again:

YES.

For you, yes.

“For the joy set before him he endured the cross.” What kind of joy would keep the Son of God nailed to a wooden cross? What kind of joy would fuel His walk up the hill of death? What kind of joy would He hold inside though every nerve screamed for relief and every crevice of His heart reached for a Father He couldn’t see through the darkness?

I’ll tell you what kind of joy. It was the joy of redeeming you.

The possibility of bringing you home, of building a bridge across a chasm you could never cross, of wiping the dirt off His precious child’s face and crowning you royalty: that is what brought Jesus joy.

You are worth the cross.

God said so. His Son showed you in a way more powerful than anyone ever could: you’re worth it. And I sincerely hope that you and I let Him convince us that’s true. We all struggle with feelings of unworthiness, of thinking we’re not good enough. And honestly, our behavior isn’t good enough. Our thoughts and attitudes and actions aren’t good enough, and that’s why Jesus had to die.

But don’t for a minute feel guilty because of that. Those burdens aren’t yours to carry anymore. Because through all of the sin, all of the mess-ups and brokenness of humanity, He saw who we are.

His.

And by the very nature of being His, we are worth it. You are worth it.

Happy Easter, dear friends! He is risen!

(I’ll leave you with this beautiful Easter medley by Anthem Lights.)

Keep Reading