Why write?

One of my favorite writers said this on the why of Christian writing:

John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus and his whole purpose in life was to point people to Jesus. He summed up his calling when he was questioned about his identity and said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.” What strikes me about John is that he was completely ok with everyone’s attention shifting to Jesus once he arrived on the scene. Of course, that was the way it was supposed to be, but knowing my own heart, I think I would have begrudged Jesus the attention at least a tad. But I want to be like John. I want to go all out in whatever calling the Lord gives me, all the while saying, Look at him. And we can all raise our voices–voices in this wilderness today–saying, look at Jesus; isn’t he great?

The ultimate purpose for Christian action is, of course, to bring attention (mostly your own) to Jesus.

But as far as personality goes, if you’re a writer, you write because you have to. You can’t help it. There are some who don’t write but should. But you write, perhaps even when you shouldn’t. I find myself jotting ideas in a pocket book in line at the grocery store. Jonathan Edwards would write ideas and pin them to his jacket when he went on walks.

You may be one of these individuals. You’re a computer programmer, but you find yourself writing stories for video games you’ll never make. You’re shy, but you have boxes of notebooks filled with what you’ve never said.

Dave Black says that if you’re a teacher or student you should blog to improve your communication skills. I would add, even if nobody reads it.