Truth and Fiction

My husband and I were discussing my writing efforts. He's an avid reader of nonfiction, and I love fiction. We talked about the difference.
"What you're writing is lies," he said. (Remember he is an incessant teaser.)
"It didn't actually happen," I retorted, "but I am writing Truth."
He mentioned my protagonist's name. "Have you ever met her?"
That was a tough question. It's not easy to explain an author's relationship with her characters. "I know her," I said.
"But you've never actually seen her, shook hands with her?"
"No, but--" I knew I would lose the "argument."
"And your other characters? Have you seen them?"
I conceded that I had not.
"So you are writing lies." He thought he had me, but I wasn't giving up that easily.
"What I write may not be real, but it is Truth. With a capital T," I countered.
That led to a discussion of capital letters. When I suggested it was lunch time, he asked, "Is that with a capital L?"
His teasing got me to thinking, though, about the significance of what I write. Telling a compelling story is an admirable objective. But as a Christian, my goal is to tell a meaningful story. To make my characters come to life in a way that the spiritual concepts will have meaning for the readers' own lives.
Unless I accomplish that, I may as well be telling lies.