Skip to main content

The Branding of Eternity on the Soul

Image
By
In his book Preaching in an Age of Distraction (Downers Grove: IVP Press, 2014), J. Ellsworth Kalas comments on the ease with which preachers can become disillusioned in their work. People are so busy. They're so distracted. They're so fascinated with all of the gadgets. They're so used to super-high-quality entertainment. They're constantly barraged by a load of messages designed to get their attention and call them to action. 

How, then, is a preacher supposed to win and retain people's attention with nothing more than a sincere presentation of the Word of God? The answer to this question is multi-faceted, to be sure, but Kalas, as a seasoned preacher, offers the following encouragement to his fellow preachers. We would do well to read his words well: 

“However dull of interest the listener may appear to be, and however distracted by the uncounted voices that clamor for attention, the preacher’s claim was there first. The breath came from God. The soul bears the branding of eternity, no matter how transient its pursuits, no matter how trivial its ambitions…The preacher and teacher must never forget that human hunger is on our side, and we dare not grow cynical because of its ebb and flow. God has a stake in the human soul that is prior to all its other inclinations” (pages 135, 137). 

So, my fellow preachers, let us prepare well and pray well, and then let us preach with the faith that God uses his Word to affect the lives of people. Let us remember that this is God's work, nor ours, and that our only calling is to be obedient to him and faithful to what his Word actually says. 

And my fellow hearers (I, too, listen to sermons every week), let us seek to create an atmosphere in our souls that is eager to hear and apply the gracious words of God. Let us not be complicit in the world's attempt to distract us from the most important things of life, but rather, let us fight by the grace of Christ to put first things first. If we will do this, we will indeed be eager to live in harmony with the branding of eternity that is in fact on our souls. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

By
Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...
Post a Comment
Read more

Catechisms: Building a Heritage of Sound Faith - By Pastor Kevin Feder

By
This is an article I (Pastor Kevin) wrote in 2005 and updated in 2017. It is featured in a new resource available through Children’s Desiring God called Discipleship through Doctrinal Teaching and Catechism by Sally Michael.  It is our desire to encourage parents to use a children’s catechism as a tool in building and strengthening faith in children. A simple definition of a catechism is “organized teaching.” Catechisms are not the only things that can or should be used to instruct the next generation, yet they have useful purposes. Listed here are ten specific benefits a catechism can uniquely offer. Hopefully these ten points will help parents understand how a catechism can be effectively used in their families. 1.  A catechism is a very clear and complete gospel message. A catechism is, among other things, a very clear and concise gospel message to children. Everything a child needs to know for salvation is embodied within a catechism. The gospel is truly ama...
Post a Comment
Read more