No more empty calories

[pdavelee]

I was really convicted by this chapter, particularly the language of empty calories. In some ways I feel more like a nursing mother than a shepherd (strange to say as a man) in the sense that what I eat so often gets directly transferred to my flock.

I’ve worried for years that my personal time in God’s word is getting short shrift because of the busyness of ministry life. I know that represents an imbalance in my priorities but it has been monstrously difficult to remedy this.

I was also challenged to think about what it is that I am feeding my congregation. So often I pour myself into illustrations, video clips, song lyrics, and anything else that can couch the biblical message in a culturally package. I spend an inordinate amount of time and energy working on such things. Yet it is often those sermons where, having run short on time, I dive into a text and simply repeat what I believe God has said. No ornaments. Nothing to “make the medicine go down.� And it is consistently these messages that get the most positive responses from those who hear.