The Christian Author and Self-Promotion, Part 2

"Whateveryou do, work heartily, as for theLord and not for men" (Col. 3:23 ESV).

"Renderingservice with a good will as to the Lord and not to man" (Eph. 6:7ESV). 

Inlastweek's post, I discussed promotion in general and made a fewobservations. 
Self-promotionis not the same thing as product promotion.    Thewriter's life is not beyond biblical scrutiny.Themotive of everything we do should be to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).Sowhere do we go from here?

Whatdo the above verses tell us? Everything we do should be done for theLord and not for men. Wow.That's a toughie, isn't it? Don't we all tend to be peoplepleasers?

Butif those verses are true, how do we Christian authors respond to thepressure to please our readers? To write for a certain audience? Towant readers to like our books and buy them? To market our materials toexpand our audience? To speak to groups and do radio interviews tofurther our influence? (And I'm not knocking these things—they are allimportant.)


Ithink the word influence maybe helpful in ourdiscussion here. Otherwise, we might reach the conclusion that weshouldn't do any of these things if we intend to obey these verses. Notso fast. Consider the words of John Piper:

Let'sget rid of the word "self-promotion" and refuse to think that way. Idon't ever wantto be self-promoting. I don't like that language. I'm going to say, "Ifwhat I'm promoting here is myself, then I don't want to do it." . .. What I'm promoting is a truththat, by grace, I believe I have seen. . . .

That'swhat the Bible says to do: "Declare his glory among the nations!"Alright! You've got to open your mouth and say what you've seen withyour eyes about his glory. You've got to say that! The Bible would never callthat self-promotion. You're supposed to die in the process! That's notself-promotion. . . . 

Thevery process of true spreading is a process of self-denying. "He whowould come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross andfollow me," meaning, "Follow me into proclamation, into gospelspreading, into serving people." Of course you're there, and you'reusing your hands, your mouth, your brain; but it's all death if you'redoing it right.Sothe language I use that may bridges the gap is "influence." Is it rightfor a Christian to want to be influential? And the answer is—if whatis influencing people is the truth, the beauty of Christ, the glory ofGod—"Yes, it's right and good." (http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/ask-pastor-john/what-is-the-difference-between-good-and-bad-self-promotion)

Sobased on what Piper is saying, I think we can conclude that if we'rewriting only to promote ourselves and be the next big-shot author, then we are shallow writersindeed. Becausewe have a higher calling. 

Acalling to influence the world with God's truth. To proclaim God'sglory.

Inother words, our writing isn't/shouldn't be about us. In fact,based on Scripture, we are to die to ourselves. Deny ourselves. Take upour crosses. Be humble. That certainly doesn't sound like the rock starmentality the world tells us we should have, does it? In fact, it's quite the reverse.

Sowhen we have a message or story to proclaim in book form (and yes, every bookhas a  message), we need to see ourselves not as promotingourselves but as promoting God and His truth and His glory. After all,we are only his microphones for truth.

After all, weare/should be dead to self. But He is alive.

It'snot about us. It's about something—about Someone—so muchbigger.

Ifwe keep that in mind, we'll forget about the whole fame/ego thing thatcan go along with being a published author. And we'll understand thatmarketing and building a platform and doing radio interviews—evenwriting books that are appealing to our readers—are things that aren't really aboutus.

They're about something—about Someone—so much bigger.

"It'sall death if you're doing it right" (Piper). Something to ponder. Untilnext time.