Eloquence

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. 1 Cor. 1:17

We imagine Paul to be conversationally convincing when facing the challengers of the faith. We envision him to be in the mold of Bo Sanchez, who translates his speech into printed words, yet he is not. We picture him to be someone who like Bobby Quitain can fire up his audience with power preaching but he is not. And so we thought he speaks well the way he writes.

Paul confesses this – he has no eloquence when proclaiming the cross of Christ. The message itself stands by itself. The message is enough. The message itself is eloquence.

For you preachers of the word, this is freedom. You don’t need the extra pressure to perform your expressive heart pounding verses. You don’t need to flex your tongue to play with words of wisdom. You don’t need to be cute in sharing the story. You don’t need to add anything to the complete meal. You go up there. Stand up. Be clear and concise. Proclaim the salvation in Jesus.

For you hearers of the word, this is freedom, too. You might have been living in this prison fact; you need a Bo Sanchez or a Bobby Quitain to be inspired. The cross is all we need to gain strength to get going. You thought you need someone with stature to proclaim the cross so we can be in awe. Be in awe of the message not of the messenger. You looked forward to the meeting when the best exhorter or great worship leader is scheduled to stand in your midst. Put the cross of Christ in the middle, you can look forward to your future.

Remember when you speak or listen to God’s word, it’s His word and not anybody else, which when spelled is – E-L-O-Q-U-E-N-C-E.