On Blogging and Doing It For God's Glory

Blogging for God Glory in a Clickbait World by Benjamin Vrbicek and John Beeson was the one and only book I finished during 2020. (And yes, writing those words makes me so sad.)

Back in 2019, I read over forty books. It was so fantastic. I absolutely loved reading and learning so much just from reading. Throughout 2019, the books I read ranged from On Reading Well that discussed a handful of classics, to theological books like Assured that covered the subject of the assurance of salvation, to fiction, to biographies. I felt like my brain was always being prodded along towards growth in a variety of areas.

And then I came to a screeching halt in 2020. 

As much as I really, really wanted to read more, I didn't. So Blogging for God's Glory in a Clickbait World is all I've got to show for 2020. (I did start a handful of other books--maybe 3?--but I have yet to finish them.)

Anyways...let's leave the past in the past and move on.

Blogging for God's Glory was a good read. I just finished it and am now motivated to get back into both reading and writing. 

In considering what it means to blog for God's glory, Beeson and Vrbecik addressed several practical areas that I found helpful: they discussed topics such as networking, defining success, and the honest use of photos, to name a few. However, there seemed to be a sudden shift from considering why and how we should blog for God's glory to discussing all the nitty gritty steps in setting up an actual blog. While there is nothing wrong with covering a lot of the practical aspects of having a blog, discussing the various way to go about acquiring web hosting and whether or not your blog theme is set up for mobile viewing didn't quite seem to fit with the overall goal of the book.  

 Another quibble I had (and this is purely personal preference) is how often the authors mention prominent Christian bloggers. While there is nothing wrong with mentioning names, constantly mentioning these popular Christian bloggers made it feel like they were being held up as the definition of successful Christian bloggers. Again, I agree that there is nothing wrong with mentioning names or using real-life examples. It just felt like the potential for impact by using these real-life examples was overused. 

In the end, if there was one thing that I walked away with after reading this book, it was that writing is a form of a discipline that God can use for our spiritual growth. Furthermore, if writing is something that God has called me to, that is something that I need to be faithful to steward for His glory.

And perhaps that is the part that was most convicting to me: if anything gets me excited about life, it is writing. (And I'll let you in on a little secret of mine: If I could have my dream job, it would be something that involved writing + ministry.) So, while I don't have any kind of formal higher education in writing (I wish I did!), I have had people tell me that God has given me a certain gift in writing and that my writing has encouraged them. 

For this reason, I do believe that God has called me to write, even if it is only in this little corner of the internet, with only a few of you reading it. So, after almost an entire year of silence here on my little blog, Blogging for God's Glory in a Clickbait World has challenged me to get back into more regular writing and blogging; seeking to write to glorify God does not mean that I need success according to the world's standards, but that I am being faithful to what he has called me to do.  

And so, friends, I plan to write more regularly here on In the Meantime. There are no promises of how often that will happen, but I do hope to work more diligently to use this space to point you towards Christ and to encourage and edify you in your walk with Him!