I previously shared five areas of life and ministry that must be watched as we pursue Total Integrity Management. Here’s one more worthy of pondering:

Do you allow time for the text to work in you first? If you have a schedule that means every message is prepared at the last minute, this is a problem. Last minute may happen sometimes, but is it last minute every time? We need to schedule some gap so that we can study a passage and then allow it to soak for a while before considering how to preach it with relevance to others. Perhaps you should consider a 10-day lead up instead of a 5-day approach. Haddon Robinson, and others, suggest this. Do some initial reading and exegetical work the Thursday ten days before you preach. You can then set it aside until the following Monday or Tuesday, but it will have had some time to soak in. Perpetually rushed preparation is an integrity issue. We must allow time for the passage to work in us, so that through us, we can deliver God’s message with integrity, to others.