Articles
Preaching
Preaching
“So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.” - Luke 3:18
Listening to someone preaching or being preached at is hardly peoples’ favorite thing. People prefer, usually, for things like that to be much more interactive with a lot of give and take. We like to be engaged by being participants. Preaching is often viewed as being outdated and possibly not effective for today’s people and this day in time. In fact, it seems like most people avoid it or remove it from their lives.
God, however, has placed it in our lives, and if He chose for us to have it in our lives, there is a good reason for it. When things become interactive and we become participants, we can have a tendency to tune out others. We are not always good listeners, and by nature in a discussion, we can listen only to respond or really only focus on our thoughts and inputs. Sometimes to maximize intake, we need to keep our mouths shut and simply listen.
We (even preachers) need to open our ears (he who has an ear to hear, hear!), close our mouths, and engage our minds with the gospel of Jesus. We need to turn off our debating and arguing sections of our minds and focus and meditate on God’s word. Don’t remove preaching from your life, but rather appreciate God’s purpose for it in your life.
