Daily Thought for Wednesday, August 3rd

August 3, 2011

Preaching and Proclaiming

Today’s Thought:

“None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing.”  – Benjamin Franklin

Today’s Quotes:

“Be what you wish others to become. Let yourself and not your words preach for you.” – Henri Amiel

Today’s Question

Have you ever stopped to think that: “An ounce of performance is worth more than a pound of prechment?” – Elbert Hubbad

Today’s Bible Verses:                  Luke 9:57-60

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.  And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.  And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father, Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“He preaches well that lives well.” - Cervantes

Christians are sometimes called disciples.  Disciples are nothing more than followers.  We are instructed, as Christians to go and make disciples of all men.   The responsibilities of a disciple are to proclaim or preach the truth of who they are and whom or what they represent.

Preaching and proclaiming is not the sole responsibility of pastors or ministers: rather it is the duty of all who are blood bought and redeemed.

And needless to say preaching or proclaiming are more than the sum of the words we speak; it is the totality of words plus deeds which equal our testimony.

You have probably known some of whom it could be said, “He was a preacher and never charged nothing for his preaching, and it was worth it, too.” - Mark Twain (from ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’)

Sadly, for too many Christians, this observation holds more truth than it should.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” – The Bible (1 Corinthians 1:18-21)

We need to be challenged to let our proclamations go beyond our words and we need to preach the Kingdom of God with our actions and deeds.  To achieve this we must return to the fundamentals of the faith; which are to love God with all that we are and to love each other.

Can I get an amen{So be it!}?

Today’s Prayer:

Father, as I journey through this life, may I be preaching and proclaiming not only in words but in deeds that you are all and everything and it is you who makes life worth living and gives it meaning.