If you are a child of God, he is working to renew you into his image—including the way you think and communicate (Eph. 4:20-24). The more you grow in Christ, the more God, by his grace, will remove sin’s effects on your mind and make your thinking, imagining, and writing more like Christ’s.

Everything you want to write about has been written about. And that’s good.

“How could that possibly be good?” you might wonder. I know I didn’t always think this way either. I once wanted to write a book that would help Christians pursue purity from a biblical-theological framework. However, I never completed it because I found other excellent books on the topics of both purity and biblical theology. “What’s the point?” I thought.

Most writers feel like they’ve run into a roadblock when they find out that something they want to write about has already been written about. However, there are at least four biblical reasons to write what’s already been written.

1. You Have No Other Choice

The second-wisest man who ever lived declared, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc. 1:9). The wisest man never contradicted him on this point.

When it comes to writing, there’s still “nothing new under the sun.” You’ll never have a completely new and original idea. Consider this article. A Google search for this article’s topic brings up over three hundred million results (though not all of them are relevant). I still wrote it, though, and you’re still reading it.

Hopefully this doesn’t discourage you. It simply means you don’t have to be completely unique in order to write a blog post or a book. You have the liberty to take something that already exists “under the sun” and present it in a new light. Examine it from a fresh angle. Offer readers a creative insight on a familiar topic.

When you write your next piece, don’t waste time trying to think of something nobody has ever thought of before. That’s not your responsibility, nor is it even a possibility! I once heard author and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin say, that our responsibility is to “write about old truths recently forgotten.”

2. People Forget

The apostle Peter wrote, “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder…And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things” (2 Pet. 1:12-15).

Was Peter a grumpy guy who wanted to preach on his soap box as much as possible before he died? No, Peter understood that repetition aids learning, and that people forget things—even important things. That’s why Peter, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote an inspired reminder of gospel truth.

Your readers are just as forgetful as Peter’s. God may use your writing to remind them of crucial truths in critical times. The father who loses his job may need a reminder that God provides for his children (Matt. 6:19-34). The woman diagnosed with terminal cancer needs to be reminded about the hope of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15). The person discouraged about sin needs a reminder that, in Christ, there is no condemnation or separation from God’s love (Rom. 8).

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