Preaching Ambition

My good son, Nate, who resides (for now) in North Carolina, said something yesterday that just about floored me with its simple truth. He said preachers ought to talk about who God is and what he has done for us and what he thinks about us, rather than what we ought to be doing. So the subject of preaching ought to be God, not us.

Sounds simple and obvious, right? Well, didn't George Orwell say that sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is to restate the obvious. Because it is the obvious that so often gets overlooked. We should start with God, says Nate, but instead our messages so often lapse into exhortations to have faith, pray, trust, etc. All these are of course very good things, but when we talk about them with ourselves as the starting point rather than God, I'm sorry, it just leaves me feeling rather sick.

I think the reason these kinds of sermons are superficially effective, though, is that they strike the ambition-chord in each of us. And we are nothing if not ambitious. These messages appeal to our innate desire to excel at something. We all want to be giants in some part of our lives, so why not the spiritual part? I'll strive to be a prayer giant, or a faith giant, etc. How can that be bad? But spiritual pride is lurking at the door.

As for me, I've kind of had it with spiritual ambition. Quote me all the Scripture you want about striving after the prize, etc., but I just want to fall, that's all. If I see myself as I really am, my only ambition will be to "run to Jesus, and live."