The Day After

You know that feeling the day after you took a chance? You're kinda waiting for the results to come in. It would be like waking up the day after the election to see who won. Well, back before the day of the 24-hour news channels.

Or like getting up on the second day of the MLB draft if you are a reasonably good baseball player. "Will some team pick me today?" Or the question most of might ask is, "Why didn't a team pick me yesterday?"

Mondays are like that for me sometimes. I preach on Sunday. Ask for a response. And then wait. I am hopeful that someone will get the point of the message. I expect the Lord to move: it's his message, after all.

I wonder what would happen if I put myself in front of the message? What if the congregation walked away with more of a sense of me than of the Lord? That scares me. Some preachers say, "Hide me behind the cross" so that the cross is seen before the preacher. Another has said, "Put me in a hole beneath the cross" so the preacher is not seen at all.

I don't want to obscure the message. I don't want to taint the message. I want to present a clear message that I feel the Lord has prompted me to give. Based on his word. Centered on Christ. Then the Holy Spirit will do the rest. And receptive hearts will respond.

The Holy Spirit always does his part. Sometimes even in spite of the preacher. So the responsibility then lies with the preacher and the hearers. The preacher must be the right conduit. The hearers must be the right receptors.

So I believe the message yesterday was from the Lord. It was hard to preach and I guess hard to hear. Some of the hearers have responded. I'm waiting for more to respond. Revival hangs in the balance.