The Purposes for Which I Pen My Words
A while back, when I embarked upon writing each day, I confess I did not know what I was doing. I still marvel at the constraint of grace that when my daily chores are complete, the thing I wish to occupy my time is to write words on a notebook page! Of course, distractions are legion, which is why I arise at 4am to begin the day. Being a theology writer, I also arise expectant to the prospect of communion with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
Over time, a few in my remnant-sized reader base have asked about my writing “ministry.” No one believes I have so few readers, but the platform I use tracks who is viewing my articles, numerically, and who actually reads the whole document. I am confident they are presuming these statistics based on the number of words I have written and the average time a viewer/reader spends on one of my documents. A viewer becomes a reader after a certain amount of time. As of today, I have five readers or less on average for the 670 articles I have written and published to date on Medium.com. Not so long ago it was an average of three or less, so I am not complaining.
As I write this particular paper, I have 61 followers (I am not even sure what that entails), of which there are 5 subscribers. Subscribers get an email whenever I write an article. Most of my readers, however, come from the 13 or so people I directly email with the link to my Medium.com page. Also, my posting the link to Facebook increases my traffic volume to the equivalent of a lonesome country road in remote Alaska.
My purposes for writing are six in number. First, I am learning Christ, and I find that writing helps me to be a better theologian. Writing forces me to think and to express my thoughts with some semblance of logic. Also, I am not proficient at memorization, so writing provides a way for me to be repetitious. It should not surprise my readers that redundancy with me is real. I take repeated themes and work them again and again with slightly different angles of approach.
Second, I am writing for my own devotional purposes. Meditating on the Word of God each day is one way to treasure it up in my heart. The Bible has a powerful effect upon its reader when the Spirit of truth is his or her Teacher (Jn 14:17, 26). Instead of reading other people’s devotional writings, I am writing my own.
Third, a very long time ago, I was a financial advisor. I observed how some people would leave their children a financial inheritance to their posterity’s hurt. The money and material things were a curse rather than a blessing. Later, when I became aware of God’s salvation, it became my desire to leave my progeny a spiritual legacy. Therefore, I can say that my devotional writings are an inheritance to be deposited with our six children and their families. Silver and gold I have none, but what I do have I give to them.
Fourth, I was once corrected by a brother in Christ, who knew I was writing and not sharing what I wrote with others in the church. He challenged me to invest in the kingdom of God, by contributing my writings to the church. This is the reason I post on Medium.com. Everything belongs to the Lord and all that has been entrusted to me is a stewardship with which I would like to be found faithful in ministering. The Lord does what He wants with us and with whatever we produce. In truth, anything good comes from Him, anyway.
Fifth, as I have written for the benefit of my own soul, the benefit of my offspring, and the benefit of Christ’s church, writing has also become a means for evangelizing the unbelieving, unregenerate, elect of God. Thus, the most repeated theme or subject in my articles is the doctrine of salvation. It took decades for me to come in contact with someone who could clearly and accurately present the Gospel of grace to me. Now that I have better understanding, I wish to be that person for others.
My proverbial axe to grind is this one. Granted, God’s timing in both providence and grace is perfect. In His time, I came to know and to understand the spiritual things that mattered most. I am a student, today, in the same way I was on day one of my being made willing to learn Christ. The depth and the riches of knowing Him are infinite. I desire for others to know, hopefully following a less troublesome path than I endured.
As a rather unprofitable slave of Christ (Lk 17:10; Eph 6:6), it remains my duty to bear witness of Him in the Spirit (Acts 1:8). This is why I am not concerned about the reportable statistics on readership. If God intended for me to be the most widely read Christian theologian in the world, He would execute that reality. The apostle Paul learned to be content in the Lord regardless of circumstances. Contentedness is one of the best gifts God gives to His adopted children. There is nothing better than being content in Christ.
Finally, I write with great pleasure to boast in the exalted Christ, to the glory of God. May it never be that I should ever glory in these good works prepared beforehand for me (Eph 2:10). I have been given a ministry. It is not much in the estimation of any sane observer, but I have grown to prefer it that way. I do not despise the day of small things because pride is crouching at the door, waiting to devour and destroy.
I am grateful to God for my handful of faithful readers, especially knowing they would all benefit more by reading others. If the mighty algorithms one day inform me that the number has dropped to zero readers, I will steady my Bic easy-writer and press on for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced He is able to keep me writing with the words I have committed to Him for review. In my book, He is the only One worth writing about and the most important One for whom I write (Let the reader understand).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
October 12, 2021
