Activity

@karthmin

I don’t think you caught the distinction I was drawing in my post. There’s a difference between entering a creativity-oriented profession solely for the money vs. accepting a single, short-term job because you need the income. Freelance writers and editors aren’t tied to one employer. Over the course of a year, a freelancer will (typically) complete multiple projects—some of which may be less ideal than others, but they’re the stepping stones toward a broader goal. We often can’t have the pick of the lot, because that’s not how life works. If we want to write or edit within a certain sphere, we have to start small and be willing to make a few sacrifices along the way.

Any job (in any field) is a two-sided coin. One side is purpose (the spiritual) and the other is compensation (the earthly). A police officer may be passionate about protecting people, but he also has bills to pay and a family to support (similar to the brief thoughts @josiah had). Realistically, he can’t give away his time on a regular basis. He may choose to do so occasionally, but receiving payment for his work (and being partly motivated by that for practical reasons) won’t somehow undermine his Christian identity. Actually, if he weren’t earning money, he wouldn’t have the means to help other believers in need (as described in Acts 4:32-35). If raking in cash was his only motivation for entering law enforcement, then he’d be guilty of greed, but otherwise he’s living by the truths that a “laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy 5:18) and “in all labor there is profit” (Proverbs 14:23). This applies to artistic endeavors too. Writing as a ministry is great, but hoping to make some income through it (since it’s a form of work) won’t negate or tarnish its eternal worth. Neither will it decrease its effectiveness as a way to point people toward Christ.

Likewise, editing is not just “fixing writing for money.” Editing is helping writers improve their stories so that they can reach and impact readers more powerfully. If (hypothetically) editing has no value besides being a source of revenue and little to no possibility of being a ministry in of itself, then the conclusion is that writing need not be high quality. But, if writing is poor quality, how can it honor the Lord?

Even when I’m editing a book that’s in a genre I’m not particularly fond of, I’m still succeeding at the mission of refining writing so that it better serves its intent, and being paid well for a less interesting project may enable me to take on another that inspires me but won’t pay much. Whatever the case, God is the one who leads authors to me, and as long as I’m diligently and excellently performing my work (as Colossians 3:23 says), that brings glory to Him.