Be Original, Be Yourself

I like to read Mark Batterson's blog. There are almost always things on there that interest me. He had a post recently titled "Tell Me Something I Don't Know."

Question, how intimidating is it to step up to a pulpit knowing that you have people thinking that? Is it even realistic to think I have something new to tell people?

Mark says, "The church ought to be the place where original thought is most prevalent. We have the Holy Spirit to illuminate us and lead us into all truth. But all too often I hear what I've heard a thousand times. So I tend to tune out. Challenge my assumptions. Violate my expectations. Shift my paradigms. The best speakers have a way of saying old things in new ways."

This scares me. Have you ever tried being original. I think when you try being originial you cease being yourself. You place an emphasis on manufacturing something that isn't real. Let's face it, we're all original. Not one of us human types are exactly alike. That makes me an original. That makes you an original. Should I be concerned with making people think, laugh, dream, cry, repent, change, remember and imagine? The truth is, I can't tell Mark Batterson anything he doesn't already know. Chances are, I can't tell most "church" people what they already know. But, I can tell my story and how God's truth impacted my life.

Good speakers to me are the ones who are themselves and communicate God's timeless truth with the Spirit's power.

"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." 2 Corinthians 2:1-5

Just some "I can't go to sleep" thoughts.