When I was 21, I started writing a sermon every week. In the early days, I used paper and pen and wrote every idea by hand. Making changes was painstaking, which was fine because those first sermons used all my ideas each week to make a 22-minute presentation.

After 33 years of doing ministry, I now have a lot more to say. Each week I write and write and usually have enough material to fill at least 45 minutes. Then I begin editing.

It is a painful process. Each line carries some level of importance. All are true and meaningful, but some are better left unsaid. Often the words are repetitive, and some introduce new ideas that add very little to the overall flow. Line by line, I read and reread, and I delete, delete, delete.

There are hundreds of variations on a quote from Michelangelo where he supposedly states, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there; I have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

Whether that quote is accurate doesn’t matter; the concept is clear: the best way to make a masterpiece is to cut away everything needless.

The same is true in sculpting, writing a novel, crafting a sermon, and even in living a life that pleases God. We need to cut, delete, and remove all the pointless parts to achieve our desired outcome. This is hard because we’ve invested so much in what we are already doing.

One reason busyness thrives in our culture and in the lives of Christians is that we keep adding things and never hit delete on the unnecessary stuff.