Squirrel

You know the old story about a puppy working hard to dig a hole in the back yard, except every time a squirrel would run by, he would become so distracted by the squirrel that he would forget about digging the hole and go chasing the squirrel. 

Well, that story describes me very well this week.  About every 2 minutes my brain screams, “SQUIRREL” and I am off on a wild goose chase. 

“There is nothing so useless ~ as doing efficiently ~ that which should not be done at all”.  (author unknown)

This Sunday’s sermon topic is difficult.  I call it, “preaching in the deep end of the pool”.  After I get done, no one is moved to slap me on the back and congratulate me on inspiring them.  Face it, some of the messages in God’s Word are like a hunk of jerky that requires some chewing.  Some Sunday’s the sermon seems more like a McDonald’s apple pie that everyone loves and demands more of. 

When I preach sermons or teach Bible studies, I usually teach verse by verse through a book in the Bible.  This method insures that I don’t skip around and only teach things that people like to hear and I like to talk about.  In college, my professor called favorite topics, “sugar stick sermons”. 

The downside of teaching verse by verse is, often it leads to muddy waters that are either politically incorrect or simply downright confusing.  Which obviously makes my task more challenging.    

This Sunday’s sermon is a topic that tends to be misunderstood and unpopular.  I spent all week trying to work on this tough sermon topic. 
However, it is remarkable how many things there are to work on besides what I am supposed to be working on.  A good illustration is the fact that I am writing this blog about finding other things to do than what I am supposed to be doing ~ writing Sunday's sermon.    

Have you ever had a very uncomfortable task staring you in the face that just refused to go away? 

Often I suspect we work harder to avoid the task than if we simply sat down and worked the problem. 

The most difficult part of this sermon is moving people past their cultural conditioning ~ their presuppositions.  Opening their minds and hearts past what “world” says is fact and moving them toward what God wants them to believe. 

((( sigh )))

I know, I know, I need to get back to working on my sermon for tomorrow. 

SQUIRREL…..

My Spiritual Perspective….

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people”  Colossians 3:23