The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. The third chapter of the epistle to the Philippians begins with the word, “finally” and Paul went on for two more chapters. He would be one of those preachers who say, “And in conclusion” and follow by preaching their sermon in reverse order so you will remember their clever alliteration. I have a couple of those sermons filed away myself. One of the sermons is entitled, “Legs, Lipstick, and Liquor.” I’ll let you know when I’m using it here in Ruston. We preachers use too many words to convey a simple, but eternally important message. Can I get an “Amen?”
It doesn’t matter which profession is yours, the fewer words you use the better. Perhaps you would enjoy this illustration. It is from a book entitled Ten Years of Preacher-Life published in 1859.
“An old man engaged in emitting dense volumes of smoke from an old pipe, until the atmosphere of the apartment became oppressive, and sickening was thus politely addressed:
Venerable sir, the affumegation arising from the deleterious effluvia emanating from your tobaccoistic reservoir, so overshadows the organistic power of our ocular, and so abflustrates our atmospheric validity that our apparati must shortly be obtunded, unless through the abundant suavity of your eminent politeness you will disembogue the aluminous tube of the stimulating and sternutatory ingredient that replenishes its concavity.”
All those words to say, “Sir, your pipe smoke is obnoxious. Put it out, please.”
Wise King Solomon wrote, “The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they?”
If you are confounded by the wordiness of Christianity, all you need to know is what was said about Jesus, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Short article, huh?
To report an issue or typo with this article – CLICK HERE
