Welcome Aboard
People write for many reasons. I am writing for joy.
In the past I’ve written for the thrill of telling my own story, written to express my heart’s deepest longings and ponderings, and written to express love. I’ve written for school assignments, written trying to impress, and written because someone was paying me to do it.
In my last job in the UAE I was a ghost writer for our company’s International Director. He would record voice notes with his latest thoughts about cross-cultural team and leadership issues, sitting in his car in Dubai traffic, and send them to me to turn into written prose. I enjoyed it. I learned a lot. One thing I learned about myself, though, was that writing for that reason got stale after a while.
Writing for Your Joy in Christ
Here I just want to write for joy. That means for your joy – your joy in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. I want you to know his heart for you. How much he likes you. How much he loves you. What he has done for you, in giving his own self for your redemption and healing.
I want you to understand better what it means to trust him – every second of every day - in good times and bad. I want you to be able to realize you are abiding in him, so that you can also actively participate in abiding in his love.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
(John 15:10, ESV)
The Father has loved Jesus eternally. He has loved him completely. And he has loved him publicly. He declared over Jesus at his baptism, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, ESV)
God delights in who Jesus is as a person. He likes him!
Jesus loves us that same way. Jesus delights in who you are as a person. He delights in you. He likes you.
And Jesus has demonstrated his love for you, and the Father’s love for you, publicly. He died on your cross, for your sin, in your place, and rose in triumph after three days – mission accomplished. He set you free from fear of death and bondage to sin by giving up his own body.
I want to write for your joy, so you and I can keep learning to live more consistently out of that gospel. I want you to have the joy of obeying your Savior, through learning how to live by faith in him instead of faith in yourself. This life of faith is the way to the greatest joy.
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:10-11, ESV)
But how do you get there? How do you stay there? How do you lay hold of Jesus’ help in living that way? That’s what we’ll explore together.
Topics on My Heart
On Instagram I have to keep captions short - 2200 characters max. But here I want to dig into these issues with longer form writing. Here are some topics on my heart:
Why is the Christian life so hard?
How do I know I’m making progress?
What does Union with Christ mean for me today?
What is the significance of the inside of the gospel? (my dying & rising with Jesus)
What difference does knowing the gospel’s inside make for my life?
How do gospel and law relate?
How does a theology of suffering ground me in Jesus’ life?
What does true Christian maturity mean?
How can my faith be strengthened?
How does Jesus meet me tangibly in sin and suffering?
How can I find rest for my soul?
I haven’t yet decided how personal a direction to go in these articles. There’s a lot there I could explore -- neuro-divergent diagnoses for myself and others in my family. Leadership areas I need to grow in. Issues related to living well in the gospel with people from various theological backgrounds. Emotionally healthy biblical counseling. What church health means in different contexts, including third-world developing nations like where we live. Struggles with perfectionism. Intellectual doubts. And many more.
I want to quote other writers and thinkers, past and present, and include their inputs in the discussion. I want to share their wealth, continuing to dig deeper & be challenged myself to learn and grow from the Spirit-led, Word-grounded wisdom of others throughout time.
Pace & Platform
I’ve been thinking how to describe the pace of writing I favor. I saw someone use the phrase, “a calm pace.” I like that. I considered using the phrase, “a thoughtful pace;” but I’m not sure that communicates clearly. My wife doesn’t think so either.
I looked into starting a Substack, and went down that road a bit. I follow some people there. But I see two problems. First, I don’t foresee having desire to monetize my articles. Nothing against those who do – I think it’s a totally legitimate platform, and great service. But for me personally, I don’t think it’s where I want to go. So that would be a lost feature on me.
The second thing that gives me pause about Substack is that despite their verbiage to the contrary, I have the sneaking sense they are indeed just another version of social media. Maybe a better one. Maybe a more independent one, without the ironclad dictums of algorithm on Instagram and Facebook and others. But still, Substack strikes me as another walled garden, and one that must be learned, tended, and kept up with. I’m just not feeling it right now.
So I will be writing here, on ethanmerck.com. I’ll be sending each article out to my newsletter list – basic, straightforward. Subscribe if you’d like to receive them. Let’s keep it simple.
My goal is to average one article a month. That’s what I can see at present, to allow me to also keep up with Inside the Gospel on Instagram and Facebook, and continue writing the two books I’m working on (checkout Union with Christ Primer here). Who knows, I may get on a run with articles on a particular topic and write more frequently. We’ll see!
Writing for My Own Joy
That brings me to the last part of writing for joy. I am also committed to writing for MY joy. In fact, it’s written on a sign over my desk to remind me every day – “Write for Joy.”
I want to have fun with this! I want to chase some rabbit trails that have deepened and widened and branched out over many years. I want this to be an exercise in exploring and getting to know Jesus better, while also hopefully helping you do the same. I look forward to more encouraging, challenging, and thought-provoking conversations like I’ve enjoyed over the last 4 years on Instagram.
So hop aboard! Let’s see where this thing goes.
"When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. … The only full heart is the overflowing heart."
— Charles Spurgeon, The Sympathy of the Two Worlds, Sermon, Luke 15:10
Lead photo by Jack Lucas Smith on Unsplash.
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