Three Ways For Writers to Love Their Readers

by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28

Writers must love their readers.

I think about my friends who have chronic illness and admire their trust in God and commitment to doing ministry. I think about how they can give and give, when they need to receive and receive God’s help and healing. What drives them to keep at it, holding onto hope and helping others? I would say it’s love.

I think about my friend who takes care of just about everyone she knows. She has four kiddos that are only three years apart, she is a nurse who takes care of other people’s precious babies, and she ministers to the Sunday school class her husband and she leads. What is her driving force? I would say it’s love. 

I think about my own great-grandmother who passed a legacy of faith to my mom who passed it (along with my dad’s input) to me. My great-grandmother was a publisher, a poet, and the best Christmas cook. She took care of her grandchildren, and when I came into the picture, she took care of me and even other kids. What was her life’s driving force? I would say it was love. 

How do you want to be remembered? How do you want people to describe you and your writing? Is it love?

Love as a Driving Force

I think about the cross. Two thousand years ago, a Man was nailed to it who had never done anything wrong. Yet God placed all of our sin—the sin of every soul who has ever lived and ever will live—on Him. Then God turned His back on Jesus so His Son could bear our sin’s punishment for us. What do you call that? No doubt, it’s love. 

Love was Jesus’ driving force then, and it’s His driving force today. We serve a risen Savior who loves us and inspires us to love. We now belong to His kingdom of love—"For He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13 NKJV). 

As you write and minister in His name, let Jesus’ love be your driving force. He never stops loving us, and by His grace, we can love and keep loving. With every word we write, with every prayer we offer on behalf of someone else, and with every act of kindness. Jesus calls us to abide in His love, and it never runs out. 

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

(John 15:9 NKJV)

3 Ways to Show God’s Love in Our Writing

It can be hard to love someone at a distance—we will probably never meet all of our readers, past or present or future. But we can love them. Through our words, through the truth we share. Through how we share it. 

As you write, consider these ways to show readers you care about them. We can practice these in every article and book we write. 

1. Show through your stories that you can relate to your readers’ struggles. 

We can show our readers that we love them by showing them we can relate to their daily challenges. We can think through our own past struggles—or current ones—and how we needed God’s help. Sharing something from our own struggles will help them to see that we’ve walked a similar road. It will build a bridge so we can share how God helped us, what His Word says about those challenges, and how He can help them. 

2. Take the time to study Scripture with its Author. 

One of the best uses of our time is to study the Bible with God. We come away blessed with understanding for our lives, and we gain insight into how to minister to others. 

Show your readers you love them by studying Scripture enough, so you can best explain what it means and how it relates to life today. The time we invest in preparing to write, is as important in the time we take to write. Rushing through our study time can rob us and our readers of valuable treasures. 

3. Word your application in a way that will appeal to them and stick with them. 

Know your target audience, and read your writing from their perspective. What will hit home with them and write God’s Word on their hearts? How can we phrase something so that it “sticks,” making an impact in their minds and hearts? As we remember what they are going through, we can tailor our application to speak to their specific needs and challenges. 

We can infuse life into our application by not only sharing the “what,” but the “why” and the “how.” Why should we trust God when life doesn’t make sense? How do we keep walking with Him when all we can see is the storm we’re in? Sharing why and how gives concrete motivation to do what you’re sharing and concrete ways to practice it. 

Which of these ways do you gravitate toward the most? Are any of these a struggle? Join us in the conversation, and leave a comment below. God bless you as you love readers in His name. 

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Katy Kauffman is an award-winning author, an editor of REFRESH BIBLE STUDY MAGAZINE, and a co-founder of LIGHTHOUSE BIBLE STUDIES. She loves connecting with writers and working alongside them in compilations, such as Feed Your Soul with the Word of God, Collection 1 which is a 2020 Selah Awards finalist.

In addition to online magazines, Katy’s writing can be found at CBN.COM, thoughts-about-God.com, and three blogs on writing. She loves to spend time with family and friends, talk about art and crafts in her group MY ARTSY TRIBE, and tend the garden in the morning sun. She makes her home in a cozy suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Connect with her at her blog, WINNING THE VICTORY, and on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.