The preacher said, “I was never taught that as a child.”

My immediate thought was, Are you sure? It is entirely possible that you were taught it, but you were not listening.

Over the years, I have heard people say things like, “My preacher never teaches on that topic.” The interesting part is that I know the subject was addressed recently because I was there when it was preached.

There are many possible reasons for this. Maybe they missed that Sunday. Maybe they were distracted. Maybe they heard the words but were not truly listening. Whatever the reason, they did not receive the teaching and quickly concluded that it was never taught.

Listening is harder than we often admit. We can sit through a sermon, Bible study, or lesson and still miss what is being said. Being present is not the same as paying attention.

One of my struggles as a preacher is realizing that I can carefully prepare a message, clearly communicate it, and still have people miss it entirely. At the end of the day, all I can do is faithfully teach God’s Word. Whether people truly hear it, receive it, and apply it is up to them.

Jesus often ended His teaching with the words, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The challenge is not simply being present when truth is taught. The challenge is truly listening.

I was riding with a charter boat captain, and we had to make a one-hour run from the dock to the fishing grounds. As we went, we kept passing clusters of boats in the river. He raised his hand and said, “They are fishing memories.”

What in the world does that mean? He explained that, normally, at this time of year, given the water temperature, the fish would be in those locations, but they are not there. So people go out and fish those spots because they were successful years before, even though they are not catching anything now.

As a pastor, I could not help but think of the Church and the followers of Jesus who are called to be “Fishers of Men.” One struggle in the Church is that we keep running programs that were successful years ago, but the fish no longer respond. Christians can hold onto methods that are no longer productive because they worked years ago. In the end, we are fishing memories.

The challenge for a Church that wants to reach non-Christians with the gospel is to go where the fish are and use effective tactics. When what worked in the past stops working, it is time to move on and try something new. This is true whether we go out to catch dinner or to make an eternal difference.

One temptation for every person as they grow in their knowledge of the Bible is the desire to explain everything. While I am all for reading, learning, and going deep into God’s word, I am also comfortable with the unknown. 

The way I see it, if my finite and flawed mind can know everything about God, then I have probably got a very small view of God. If the master creator can be completely explained in a few minutes, then he is probably not worth worshipping. 

I believe we worship a God that is bigger than my thoughts and whose ways push the boundaries of human understanding. He is bigger than, greater than, more powerful than, and beyond our comprehension. As a result, I am okay with some theological mystery.

He listed his occupation as content creator. Then I watched some of his videos, and all he did was recycle other people’s jokes and observations. He was making content but was truly creating nothing new.

One challenge, both now and in the future, will be finding your own voice and using the gifts God gave you. Ephesians 2:10 describes you as God’s handiwork, and, as many scholars have noted, this could easily be translated as “God’s masterpiece.” You are his one-of-a-kind creation meant to do good works for the kingdom of God.

God put each member of his family in a place where they can use their unique lives, experiences, abilities, and personalities for him. We will never be able to do that if we are only copying what everyone else is saying.

Biblical interpretation is a quest to seek the Author’s Intended Meaning (AIM). What did John mean when the Holy Spirit inspired him to write that down? To achieve this, we will need to consider the context of the paragraph, the book, and the Bible as a whole. It is also good to consider the historical setting and the literary genre. We will also need to examine individual words or phrases, possibly consulting the original language to catch any nuances.  

Reading and interpreting the Bible correctly takes some time and effort, but the more you do it, the more natural it will become.

There is one more aspect of proper interpretation that gets overlooked. This concept was driven home to me on social media. A man posted a video of the Veggie Tales theme song as a “dark rock anthem.” He takes the words to the Christian children’s cartoon and uses AI to make them sound like the metal rock music of my youth. While it uses the same words, the tone is completely different, and, in many ways, it changes the meaning.

I think we can do the same thing when reading the Bible. We can take the words and use them exactly as written, but change the tune to change the meaning. Words of joy that were spoken as a promise quickly turn into harsh commands and angry rants. Passages that are full of grace and hope are given a minor key and somehow show us all that we are not achieving.

One valid question is not only what this means (AIM), but also how it sounds. How did the first reader hear this? Were they filled with joy, hope, and love, or were they challenged, corrected, and embarrassed by their behavior?

VeggieTales as a dark rock anthem is fun to listen to only because I know the original wasn’t written like that. I understand that it was a fun and funny song meant to bring joy to kids.

Similarly, we must make sure the promises of God remain a joyful sound rather than the dark tones meant to frighten us. And the commands of God don’t become happy little tunes with no sense of urgency. Using the wrong notes can lead to the wrong interpretation and mess up the whole soundtrack God is using in our lives.

The phrase “wishy washy” has been around since the early 1600s, when the word washy simply meant diluted or weak. Before long, English speakers added “wishy” to it as a rhythmic way to drive the point home. The phrase means something feeble, flimsy, and lacking substance. Over time, it grew beyond describing watered-down items and began to describe people’s character, choices, and commitments. Webster’s dictionary defines it as “ineffectual” and “weak.”

I hadn’t heard the phrase in a while until a friend recently used it to describe some of the people he manages. He had hired folks who just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, follow through on what was asked of them. He shook his head and said, “Everyone is so wishy washy.”

It stopped me in my tracks. Because my mind went straight to the people I lead. Are they standing firm in their faith, or are they wishy washy? When God asks something hard of them, something costly, something uncomfortable, do they rise to meet it, or do they do it half-heartedly?

And honestly, this is a hard question for all of us who follow Jesus. He doesn’t call his people to be lukewarm. In Revelation 3, he tells the Church at Laodicea that he would rather they be hot or cold, because he will cast them out like a person drinking lukewarm water. He doesn’t ask for halfway obedience or part-time devotion. Jesus wants all of us.

Wishy washy faith isn’t neutral ground. It’s a warning sign. So let’s examine our hearts honestly and ask: are we all in, or are we wishy washy?

I was listening to a missionary from the Philippines talk about the differences in ministry between that culture and the American worldview. He described how, when people come over on missions trips, they usually have two points of emphasis: projects and performance. They want to know what we can do to help these people physically, or what kind of program we can put on to help people know Jesus.

Then he said something like this, “In most of the places where I serve, they are only interested in knowing you. The way they see it, they have all the time in the world to do that thing, but you might only be there once in your life, and they want to know you.”

As an American writing this, I must admit that it is true for me. I want to get things done. But the call of Jesus is to value people and relationships as we do his work. We are to do his work, and we must never lose sight of the fact that we are doing it as brothers and sisters in Christ. And if a choice must be made, we must always choose people over projects.

There is no perfect plan when it comes to the things of God.

Every Church is made up of unique people with unique gifts and abilities. Every congregation has a different location, building, and culture. The pastor, leadership team, and ministry leaders are distinctive in every setting. Therefore, ministry must fit that particular Church because there is no other church exactly like it.

Discipleship must also be tailored to each believer. Every person has a different past, present, and future. Personalities, learning styles, years of following Jesus, and biblical knowledge all influence spiritual growth. Therefore, people must be taught and encouraged in ways that fit their lives.

Raising godly children is just as unique. Some learn best in groups while others thrive with individual instruction. Countless factors shape a child’s heart and soul. Therefore, growth and development must be tailored to each young person’s needs and abilities.

There is no cookie-cutter approach to the things of God. We can certainly learn from what others have done, but copying them is rarely the best solution.

As individuals and as a community, we are one-of-a-kind followers of Jesus. Our approach to growth should reflect that reality. Just because something did not work for someone else does not mean it will not work for me. And just because it worked for another family does not guarantee it will work for mine.

Cookie cutters are great at Christmas, but they work poorly in the work of the Lord.

If you spend any time watching reels online, you have undoubtedly seen someone acting out a fake debate. They will place the camera to record them asking a question, then turn the camera, and the same person, often dressed differently, will respond to the question. It will go back and forth, as this person poses as someone very thoughtful who can easily destroy another person’s viewpoint.

The other day I was scrolling through Instagram, and one of these came up, and the viewpoint he caricatured was one I held. This thoughtful person would ask a question and then give his response, which was supposed to represent my view.

What bothered me to my core was that every answer he gave that I was supposed to agree with based on my theology was absolutely not a response I would give. He ignored scriptures, avoided hard questions about his view, and made my take look stupid. After watching for a couple of minutes, I was furious.

I started to write a scathing comment, and then I asked myself, “How many times have I done the same thing?” How often have I, in conversations, teaching, and even preaching, represented someone’s views as shallow and unbiblical?

Then this thought went through my head: “Why didn’t he just interview a real person who holds that belief?”

Real conversations are hard. We might hear something that challenges our thinking, makes our opponent appear smarter than we want to admit, and maybe prompts us to ask questions that go beyond surface-level faith. Often, real conversation will reveal that the people we caricature have deeply held beliefs and a genuine faith we don’t want to accept.

As a Christian, I am going to ask you to avoid videos like these and to engage in real conversations. Talk to people about what they truly believe while treating them with dignity and respect.

Jesus asked a lot of questions and gave people room to talk, and that should be a model for our faith, not our current culture of oversimplifying other people’s beliefs. We need more honest interaction and fewer videos with fake debates.

When you think of the Church, dozens of words come to mind. Some of mine are community, family, worship, discipleship, prayer, learning, and preaching.

Does the word grace come to mind for you?

We associate Jesus as the giver of grace, but what about the people who follow him?

I believe the Church community should be a place where grace overflows. We forgive one another, we offer second chances, and we are never quick to judge.

That is not to the exclusion of discipleship. We still expect people to grow, connect, and serve. We teach and expect people to learn about faith while applying it to their lives. We call people to live out their commitment to Jesus with seriousness and conviction.

But when they fail, misunderstand, or allow themselves to be deceived by evil, the primary reaction is to offer grace. A big part of being a follower of Jesus is not only our willingness to grow in faith but also in grace. Part of why we live in community is to hold each other accountable; the other part is to have support in our struggles. Both of those working together make the Church a unique group meant to help people on their journey of faith.