Tuesday, February 3, 2009

"Tell 'em anyway."

Now, I know I can't possibly the only one that received lecture after lecture from their parents as children? And, what I mean by lecture is, the continuous teaching of what was expected and what was the right way to go about doing things in life. My dad was perhaps the coolest "lecturer" that I know; he has always shown great restraint and control even in the midst of us doing absolutely the wrong thing. Mama Al was the "lecturer" that prefaced everything she had to say to us with her patented, "Are you kidding me?" statement. It was really a statement as opposed to a question, because she already knew the answer anyway. Then their was Mom; who was every bit the yeller when she said what she had to say.

Regardless of the deliveries they all were adamant about making sure we knew what was the right thing. Of course, as growing children from adolescence onward, there were plenty of times we didn't want to hear nor follow what was the right thing to do. The reason was it began to conflict with our own desires, so we found ourselves gravitating to parents that allowed their children to do what they want when they wanted. Fortunately, we didn't completely fall into that style of parenting for one reason or another. I would like to think it was because of the strength behind my parents "lectures".

Paul, in the 2Timothy4:1-4, told Timothy to be persistent in teaching what was right; whether it was a good time or not. Saints, this is the same mandate we have today. The problem we are facing is the migration of people from hearing the truth. They are more interested in listening to people that are telling them what they themselves are already doing, and looking to be validated rather than reproved.

There are going to those that don't want to hear the truth..."tell 'em anyway".

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think one of the strangest things as a young pastor is 'lecturing' people from the pulpit who are old enough to be my parents. Feels like a bit of a time warp. But I deal with it by just preaching 'to myself.'

I.H.S. said...

I would agree with your approach and preach 'to oneself'. I think it helps us maintain our focus.

I hope everyone understands when I used the word 'lecture' that I meant it in the context of 'teaching' and not the negative sense of... blah blah blah blah blah.

Thanks for the comment Matt.

Blessings.

shoprat said...

Those who don't want to hear the truth need it the worst.

Z said...

My parents had absolutely NO PROBLEM telling US the truth, TRUST ME ON THAT!!!

Yes, 'tell 'em'.....there's nobody ELSe to tell'em.

Fascinating to consider a pastor preaching to himself; I like it. I REALLY do. I pray my pastor will start doing that.