By Gordon Palmer

When God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle in the desert during the Exodus, he gifted people with the skills necessary to complete the task – designing precious metals, stone cutting, woodworking, embroidery, and other crafts.

Moses then summoned “every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work” (Exodus 36:2 NIV, emphasis added).

Years ago, God put writing on my heart. He also told me I wasn’t ready (cue a string of writer’s conferences, classes, and webinars to rectify that). When he later told me it was time to move forward, I did, except for one thing – writing.

Oh sure, I spent a lot of time organizing, studying, attending more conferences, plotting how to build that platform, and all the other necessary components for being a writer. But the one key element – writing – remained elusive. It still does.

Why is that? God gave me a gift and put it on my heart to use for his glory. Shouldn’t that be enough?

The better question is, if God commanded me to write, why am I not doing the work? The simple answer is because I choose not to. It’s so much easier to study and build – and a whole lot of other things that have nothing to do with writing – than do the work of writing itself (see the Book of Jonah for a textbook example of what that looks like; any version will do).

So what does it take to get unstuck and move forward? For me, it’s finding reminders and motivation in God’s Word.

We belong to the Lord.

“Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his” (Psalm 100:3, NIV).

God wants our all.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1, NIV).

Jesus gave it all.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5, NIV).

We are working for the Lord.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23, NIV).

We need to encourage each other.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV).

Life is short.

“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14b, NIV).

People need our words now.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14 NIV).

Writing requires discipline.

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).

God gifted each of us with the ability to write. Are you “willing to come and do the work?”

Gordon Palmer is returning to writing after a decades-long absence (his first article appeared in the Carolina Alumni Review in 1994). He works full time in digital media for the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, where he also writes and edits policies and procedures. Nothing says non-fiction like that! Gordon lives in North Carolina with his beautiful wife, loves playing golf with his older son and going to comic book conventions with his younger, and is proud of his stepson heading off to college.