Christian Living

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Larry Lilly’s Letter Thursday April 12, 2007

I am thankful that according to responses concerning the letters for the last several days many are being helped and those who refuse help are as mad as little wet hens. I don’t know why I think of little wet hens when I see mad or pardon me, angry preachers.

Today’s offering should be a piece to be more thankful for or angrier about, depending on your own spiritual condition. And you don’t have to be a clergyperson for this lesson to help you. It helped me. I say this because the root cause of the foregoing problems is found in our statement from the Homiletics article.

“70 percent of ministers/paid Christian workers do NOT study the Bible except for sermon/lesson preparation.”

With over four decades of pastoring and writing, daily radio/TV programs and traveling to help other churches, believe me I know the blessing of packaged preaching/teaching programs for the entire church. They, in my opinion do have their place on a limited and closely controlled basis.

On the other hand!! You knew ‘the other hand’ was coming didn’t you. On the other hand the preacher/teacher must take the time to get alone with God and steep in His word and listen as the Spirit comes alongside to guide us into the truth. While The Spirit is teaching us the truth as we soak in His word, we are being changed, sweetened up a bit, and when we have the truth, the truth lays hold on our heart, our mind and our bodies follow the lead of the Spirit into action as He guides.

When I use the word ‘study’ I am using it with the idea of musing, of stopping and thinking through a phrase, even a word, and learning everything I possible can about the phrase or word, tying the learned truth in with the context and the overall teaching of the entire Word of God on the subject and then applying the truth to my own heart. Only then am I ready to pass it on in hopes of getting wicked church people and outright sinners saved. Without doing this, many times wicked church members will repent, outright sinners will be saved, but each day, each week, I become less of the man God designed me to become. In time I will pay a price, because although I know with my mind, my heart has not been set on fire with truth, I have not made the personal application and seemingly out of nowhere I am not only involved in some disaster, I am a disaster and a shame to the name of Jesus Christ.

It was David who said in Ps 39:3, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,”

In the next verse David asked God to show him his own frailty. It is only when we think ourselves too important that we foolishly fail to take the time to study, to listen and to make personal application of God’s truth to our heart. In too many cases our knowledge is increased only to increase the knowledge of our hearers and both their heart and ours is left chilly.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit.

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