Making It Plain

Many, many times I listen to ministers begin each and every sermon with,"I would like to thank this or that...blah-blah... and I count this being here as an honor and a privilege to minster to you this morning..." And indeed, as I thought about it, it is an honor to be chosen to preach to God's people. God in as much trusts that speaker to say what He has given the speaker to say. This person has studied, prayed and is well equip to say and pray the way God has instructed him/her to do. The speaker has taken his position seriously and is not just saying what he thinks sounds good just to increase CD sales and to get a hefty love offering in the end. He/she is not just pulling at the heart strings of emotion for the majority of the congregation to run around the church and be all out of breath to trick them in believing that the church service was really good only to try to make account of the words spoken and it was all fluff and nothing to sustain them for the week....

Of course we don't think of ourselves as ever being stuipid. It's always the other guy... and yet without telling anyone some of our actions makes the other guy feel better. I cannot count how many times I have heard the most selfish, arrogant, foolish, things people say and do in  regular conversation. Not the clients I've counseled; not really television; everyday lives of people calling themselves Christian with justifications (sounds like excuses) for doing and believing such nonsense. And then when you ask them to give you scripture (our guide for living) and they get angry at you - like you asked for something crazy! Just because it might sound cool or it makes you feel better when you are angry does not mean we let those words come out of our mouths. We think good things and speak good things. You know, God being good and the greater one on the inside of you or should I just remind you of what your mother use to say: if you don't have anything nice to say, don...