The Word for Writers

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Getting to the Real Thing

"...The spring of living water..." (Jer. 2:13, KJV).
As a Christian writer who received her training at a secular school, I've tended to use a lot of symbolism to make the point God wanted to make through me. To paraphrase something I heard all over and over again, Christian morals just didn't make good writing. Because I wanted good grades from my teachers, I often tried to cloak my Christianity, especially the gospel in symbols. Jesus himself did this quite often, but today, the Holy Spirit convicted me that symbols only worked if they pointed us to the real thing. Our Lord's encounter with the woman of Samaria illustrated this truth. This witnessing encounter was proof that with the Lord there’s no such thing as an accident.

The place was a well that belonged to the patriarch Jacob. Here, Jesus promised living water (John 4:10, KJV) In our text, God calls himself living water. Perhaps, Jesus was alluding to Jeremiah 2:13 when He made this promise. But the woman missed this truth, so our Lord changed His strategy. At first, I believed the Lord wanted me to write about how we, like the woman, could get so wrapped up in the symbol we miss the reality it represents. However, something entirely different started to come out, I think we as Christ representatives to the world need to keep in mind that the apostles did not veil the gospel (see II Corinthians 4:1-3). It's good to use symbols and analogies, but in the end we need to put the emphasis on the truth they illustrate. Let us as Christians, especially artists never sacrifice truth on the alter of the eloquent, pleasing package. The Holy Spirit gave both when necessary, but He is called "the Spirit of truth" not the Spirit of beauty (John 14:16).

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