His Glory My Joy, a blog of Author Luana Ehrlich

One of the most important concepts in the publishing industry today is the notion of “The Platform.” You may not know what that is, but think for a moment about people who’ve recently released a book—people like Hillary Clinton, Bill O’Reilly, and John Grisham. These authors have a built-in platform. The mere suggestion they might write yet another book has readers signed up to buy a copy before one word has been penned.

That’s a platform.

Publishers and literary agents will ask a potential author, “What’s your platform?” If you’re on the news regularly, have already written a best-selling book, have held  a prominent political office, or have even committed some serious offenses against humanity, the publication industry is  willing to sign you up immediately. Thus, platform is less about writing and more about having visibility and authority in the eyes of the world.

When the Son of God came to earth, he had no platform. He lived his life in relative obscurity in a small town that had a bad reputation. Yes, he gathered around himself a group of followers, but they were few in number and mostly considered the riff-raff of society—prostitutes, tax collectors, and a handful of rebels and fishermen.

Jesus, the very Author of Life,  had an itsy bitsy platform.

Yet, He did have something to say. In fact, He had a lot he wanted to tell people—about Himself, about His Father, and about the fact that He was the Word. His Word brought into existence everything that was, everything that is, and everything that will be. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1.

The message he delivered received bad reviews from those in authority, from the people who had developed a platform of their own. At the earliest opportunity, they crucified Him, intending to obliterate his words.

But the words were important; the words were Life, the words brought Life. They were taken up by others who had no platform, but who faithfully wrote down what He had said, who delivered the message he could not deliver because he had no platform.

May all of us with itsy bitsy platforms never fail to deliver His Words. By doing  so, we  provide Him with a platform the world cannot ignore.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation . . .” Isaiah 52:7.