Soul Scientist

This is a devotion which I presented at the Jackson Christian Writer’s Fellowship meeting on 2/1/25. No worries, if you’re not a writer. For I believe this post is applicable for whatever task our Good God has put in front of you to complete. You don’t have to be a pastor or musician, writer or artist, researcher or teacher, to “speak” of God’s great love to those in deep need of His truth of salvation and eternity.

You don’t have to be talented; you need to be trustworthy.

Because if you’re willing to share your story about God’s love to you and with His love for you and to whomever you’re speaking, God will take your little and make it much in another’s life. As Christians, we are all ministers of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherever, however, and with whomever God puts in front of us.

On that note, thank you, friends, for how well you minister to me with your faithfulness in encouragement and to many others I may never know this side of heaven. Please remember when you share your story of God’s love, you are pointing straight to hope for today and for eternity.

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How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

To address the elephant in the room today, writing can seem overwhelming if you see any project as a whole. A 350-word article can be as intimidating as a 35,000-word book. A 3- point outline can be as terrifying as a 3-chapter excerpt. (Been there, done that. And lived to tell about it.)

Nearly every assignment can be broken into a series of bites (or tasks).

Nearly every assignment can be used for realignment of my own arrogance into faith in my Sovereign God Who knows every one of those words before they’re on my tongue, paper, or computer screen.

I’ve learned this – if I choose courage and the bite-by-bite approach, I am gently reminded to rely on the love of God, not my own abilities. A bite-by-bite approach focuses me on the truly important tasks of bathing the assignment in prayer, covering it in grace, and pleading for the mercies of my Good God to provide what’s needed when it’s needed. And I’m not a one-off on this approach – many authors have written similar on their own assignments using a bite-by-bite approach.

Better yet, with the Henry Ford approach of “every job is a series of small tasks”, God will remind us that He’s already written the greatest story ever told. Jesus did that faithful step-by-step-by-step all the way up the Via Dolorosa to Calvary for each and every one of us. With His sacrifice for us in mind alongside each step of obedience in writing, I can see that God’s grace points me to Himself and prayer keeps me there at His Feet.

One day at a time.

One book at a time.

One article at a time.

One paragraph at a time.

One word at a time.

One breath at a time.

This kind of writing demands that the love we receive from God must be written inwards on our hearts. What He’s written inside us will then compel us to always be looking outwards for others in need of hope, faith, love, and joy. Writing as ministry requires nothing less than all of us poured out for God’s glory and the good of His people. This kind of writing will also plant the essential seed of humility in the recognition that I am merely a caretaker of God’s ideas. He is the Creator, Provider, and Sustainer of all for all time, including the essential characteristic of love to bring life.

I Corinthians 13:1

AMP If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction].

GNT I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.

Substitute [write] for speak in that verse – what rings true in your mind and heart right now about writing? Without love, writing isn’t just “flat” or lifeless, it can be hurtful or hopeless. Yet, writing in love, like speaking the truth with it as described in Ephesians 4:15, can be dynamic, life and hope-giving. The kind of writing that plants deep encouragement in the soil of the soul of a reader.

In other words, writing in love, writing with love, writing by love, writing for and to the Lover of our souls can be a blessing. (truly – not just the typical Southern “bless your heart” (you’re an idiot).)

Blessing according to the Oxford Language Dictionary (and they should know!) is “a prayer asking for God’s favor and protection and as something that brings well-being.”

I want that blessing and well-being for my readers and myself. That shalom or wholeness in every word written with purpose, power, and praise – the dunamis (“power”), the light given, the door opened, the fear overcome.

The Oxford Language Dictionary defines love as “unconditional, compassionate, kind, generous, nurturing, forgiving, giving without expectation of return, understanding, sacrificial.”

How different our worlds could look if we choose to write with love for God, neighbors, and ourselves! If we’re writing in a love that’s deeply encouraging, done daily, and denying defeat in its drive to bring life and hope to whomever reads it, we can love our God and our readers with every word.

Paul captured this idea in his letter to the Ephesians. Let this passage and the love in and behind each word soak into the soil of our souls today.

Ephesians 3:14-21 NLV For this reason, I bow my knees and pray to the Father. It is from Him that every family in heaven and on earth has its name. I pray that because of the riches of His shining-greatness, He will make you strong with power in your hearts through the Holy Spirit. I pray that Christ may live in your hearts by faith. I pray that you will be filled with love. I pray that you will be able to understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep His love is. I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself. God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us. May we see His shining-greatness in the church. May all people in all time honor Christ Jesus. Let it be so.

No matter our genre, training, interests, research, platform, abilities, language, vocabulary base, or audience, when we write with love for our God and our neighbor, we can open doors to shalom and close doors to fear. Because if we’re writing with and in love, God is at work in and through us for our readers and us to be transformed into His Image. For this kind of writing will invigorate us to: soak our words and our lives in prayer; remember that we are but dust; embrace the good works God has planned for us to do; know that God will bring to completion every good work He has started; and numerous other blessings that point straight to our Good God. Only in God’s strength, only in God’s provision, only in God’s Presence can we eat that elephant of the truth spoken in love bite by bite.

What is the next bite you need to take this week for the task our Good God has called you to do? A great way to start the next bite is to read (and re-read) Ephesians 2:10 GW God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do and to read (and re-read) Philippians 1:6 CEV God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won’t stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns.

written by and copyrighted to Beth Madison, Ph.D., 2025.