Yesterday morning I set out early to drive across the country to a church where I was scheduled to preach. I’d checked the journey on the internet and knew I needed to allow 2.5 or 3 hours. I got in the car and programmed the GPS (SatNav if you’re British!) with the postal code of my destination. Finally it was ready to navigate and told me I’d arrive at my destination at 7:41pm. That was a little after the 10:30am meeting I was supposed to preach at! So I checked the map and reviewed the turns. It took me to the south coast and along a little ways, but then directed me to catch a ferry over to the island of Guernsey (by France), then to catch another one back to another port. 10 hours at sea to progress half an hour along the same coast! I decided to trust the map on this occasion.

As preachers, at some level or other, people look to us for direction and guidance in life. Our task is to relevantly teach and apply the Bible to our listeners. There are two dangers to avoid, or maybe only one:

1. Don’t make it too complicated, be honest. People are not helped by complicated instructions that are hard to follow. Whether we are explaining how to resolve a conflict, how to pray, how to have personal devotions, how to make big decisions in life, etc. Whatever the “how-to” might be (and this is by no means suggesting every message should be or have a “how-to” element), we should be honest, but not unnecessarily complicated. This is not a time to impress people with overly detailed strategies. However . . .

2. Don’t make it too simple, be honest. I’d love my GPS unit to give me short-cuts, but only if they actually worked. Telling me I could get to somewhere in 10 minutes is no help when it will be a three-hour drive. When preaching it is easy to over-simplify and make unhelpful promises. Just do this and you will deal with all that pain. Just do such and such and it will be taken care of. False promises hurt people. When false promises don’t work, someone will get the blame. Maybe the preacher, maybe the person themselves for their own lack of faith, or maybe God. None of these options help. But really any blame for false promises rest with us.

When it comes to application, direction and instruction. Be honest. Don’t over-complicate and don’t over-promise. Don’t be dishonest. Be honest.