The Levity of Brevity

Having been retired from the Seminary classroom for several years, it was a bit awkward recently to find myself back in a substitute role for one of my former students, now teaching the same course he learned from me. One of the things I remembered during the class time was that, when teaching, I always prided myself in finishing on time or perhaps a few minutes early. In all my classroom years, I never had a student complain about getting out of class early. I often told my want-a-be preachers, there were three rules of preaching: stand up, speak up, and shut up. Sadly some of my former students have abandoned my advice and now preach seemingly forever in each sermon. I always felt it was better to leave others wanting more than to exhaust the subject. I’ll never forget the advice I received from my Advisor as I was writing my doctorial report. “Eliminate every word you don’t’ need” he said. What if we applied these bits of communication advice to every-day conversation? Ever get in a conversation that seemed to go on forever and you couldn’t find a way out of it? The Apostle Paul spoke of writing “briefly” of the mystery (Ephesians 3:3). Simon Peter wrote, “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand” (1 Peter 5:12). If Paul and Peter could communicate “briefly” then perhaps we can also. Not that every communication needs to be brief, but some could certainly be shortened. So remember the five B’s of good communication: Be Brief Beloved, Be Brief.

Join me this week in remembering the following global concerns:
• Pray for church planters and church planting teams meeting in Riga, Latvia this week.
• Pray for the “Hradec Kralove City English Camp” on March 24-28 in the central Czech Republic.
• Pray that university students in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil will be receptive to the gospel presented through the Hands On team.
• Continue to pray for mission personnel who serve in places of political unrest.