In one case, a Christian friend and I had a difference of
opinion that ultimately resulted in severing the friendship. That argument and what was
said, was something between us and no-one else. To me it was something between
the two of us and it went no further. It
didn’t concern anyone else. However she chose to relate details of the argument
to others. As we know the person telling
the story invariably tells it from their point of view, so it looks like they
are the one wronged. Listen to anyone
tell the story of an argument and you’ll see what I mean.
In another situation another Christian related a couple of incidents
to me. What struck me as she related the
tale was the bitterness and resentment towards the other party involved in the dispute.
The situation had happened many years
ago but she had not let go of it. Looking at it from the outside, it is often
easy to see there was probably right and wrong on both sides.
Even though in each case the people involved were mature Christians,
they struggled with their emotions and behaved in a manner that I found disappointing.
The truth is we have greater expectations of Christians. Then I realised how
often my actions and behaviour are also disappointing to God, to others and to
myself. How often I let Christ down and
do not live up to those greater expectations.
When you look at the bible it never shies away from showing
us people’s faults and times when they fail Jesus. Think of some of the disputes
we see in the New Testament. There is Paul when he challenges Peter over his
attitudes and hypocrisy regarding Gentiles, Galatians 2:11-21. Or Paul and Barnabas
when they disagree over John Mark and his role in ministry and so go their
separate ways, Acts 15:36-41. Yet no one would deny Paul was a mighty servant of
Jesus. God is always able to use any
situation, even disputes, to further His kingdom.
So what does this have to do with writing? Whether we are
writing fiction or nonfiction we need to show complex characters not stereotypes.
Characters who struggle to make decisions, who struggle to get it right, characters
that disagree and make unwise choices. As readers we need to see that even when
Christians do not act as we might expect, when they harbour grudges and resentment
or gossip about others, His plans are not thwarted. He can still use those imperfect
people to further His kingdom.
A minister once told me and the rest of his congregation ‘if
you are not having struggles sin your Christian life, then there is something
wrong. Satan doesn’t think you're worth bothering with because you’re not an
effective Christian.’ Let’s come back to
Paul. How often did he struggle between the human nature and the godly nature
and do things he didn’t want to do? Don’t believe me? Have a look at his words
in Romans 7: 14-25.
In some Christian books I have read in the past, making the right
decision and behaving in a godly manner comes too easily to the Christian. That
makes it hard for a lot of our readers to identify with if they don’t find the Christian
life and making the right choice that easy. The truth is the Christian life can
be a struggle at times. So it is important we show the conflict and struggles
that go on within, the time when characters doubt and make wrong decisions as
well as the ultimate triumphs. I’d love to hear examples of recent books where
you have found the main character has made unwise decisions and struggled with doing
the right thing, while still being able to be used by God or changed by God.
Dale writes fiction and poetry and had recently submitted a 365 day devotional /commentary tentatively titled A Day at a Time to a publisher. Now she's working on another novel. You can find out more about Dale at www.daleharcombe.com and you might like to follow her blog at Write and Read with Dale http://orangedale.livejournal.com/
