Ramblings or eloquence, we all need and want to see the power of God working in our lives!

Chip Kendall

I've always admired eloquent speakers. Some people are just extremely gifted with an ability to communicate clever, witty and concise thoughts to a very broad audience without hardly batting an eyelid. They can cover a wide range of topics in a seemingly short space of time and by the end, their listeners are eating right out of the palm of their hand, following every persuasive idea without missing a single beat.

As someone who often finds himself speaking in front of large groups of people, I'm constantly trying (and failing!) to emulate such eloquent speakers as I attempt to adequately communicate the old, old Story to young, young listeners. I could bore you to death with example after embarrassing example of times I've ended up making a complete rambling fool of myself (all for the sake of the gospel of course), as I've mixed my metaphors and "translated" my words from American to English and back again. Definitely not something to be proud of. Or is it?

According to the Bible, "the Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power." (1 Corinthians 4:20) That means all the eloquence in the world counts for nothing if it's not accompanied by the Holy Spirit's dynamic power living in me. Power means miracles. Power means salvation. Power means people getting set free and demons running for their lives, regardless of whether I'm speaking on stage or just going about my daily business. Surely this should be at the top of my agenda, miles above impressing everyone with all that "fancy" mumbo jumbo.

When I was a teenager growing up in Jerusalem, I heard a phrase which I loved so much that I actually painted it up on my wall. "Talk is cheap; livin' is cool." Years later, it remains an important principle I still choose to live by. After all, I don't want to be all about pointing people to chipK and his ability to tickle ears. I want to be all about pointing them to Jesus.