I can't stand the rambling preacher. That
fellow that spends his time talking about everything but his lesson. The guy whose lesson on the Prodigal Son includes
sections on picking peas, the best hitter in baseball and temperature of last
night’s dinner. Maybe it bother me
more because I fear that I may just be that guy. Rambling might be entertaining
(usually not) but it is definitely not edifying. For the preacher, his purpose is to build up
his listeners with his words not just fill time.
But that qualifier isn’t
just for preacher however;
“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”
Ephesians 4:29
This verse gives us
a purpose (edification), a place (according to the need of the moment), and a plan
(give grace) for our speech. It also commands
us to limit speech that doesn’t fit in that role. When we ramble on about things that don’t do
this, we violate our purpose.
Oh, but how easy it is to be a rambling
man. We can get on a topic like a dog on
a bone and never let it go, never mind that it’s time and purpose have long
since gone. We spend more time talking
about unimportant things that we never get around to the thing that truly need
to be said.
When a preacher
rambles he gives the unintended message that God’s message isn’t all that important.
When God’s people squabble over minutiae,
it gives the message that these things are more important than they really are.
Jesus said that “out of the heart the mouth speaks”, if we spend most of our lives
complaining about the issue of the day, gossiping on the “goings on”, or
ranting about our latest slight, what does that say about our heart?
We talk about what
we care about. What does it say if we never get around to talking about the
Lord?
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