I’m preaching on a series of sermons on the Proverbs. The Proverbs contain some of the most simple yet humbling truths to preach upon. I came across this memorable line that comes at the end of King Lear:
The weight of this sad time we must obey;
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
So many times in my life I catch myself just saying what I “ought to say” instead of what I really feel. Hard truths are left unsaid. A deep sense of gratitude is abbreviated by a simple, “thank you.” The Bible summarizes these truths by saying we should, “speak the truth in love.”
I have to catch myself from the tragedy of the predictable. I want to live out of my heart and not out of expectations and obligations. The preacher’s job is not to spout predictable cliches but to speak sincere truth from the depths of his being. Imagine living in a world in which people only spoke sincerely and graciously.
MLK once said
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Filed under: Uncategorized
