我说的话讲的道，不是用智慧委婉的言语。（林前二1－5）
保罗是第一流的学者和演说家；他说这话并非出于下乘的谦逊，乃是说如果他传福音时，若用漂亮的言词去吸引人，就掩盖了神的能力。信耶穌是一项神迹，惟救恩的功效，不是靠话语的魔力、諂媚、说服，而是单凭神的大能。救赎的创造大能，是由传福音，而不是传道者的人格带出来。
传道者真正的禁食，不是食物的禁食，而是在辞锋、出奇吸引的字眼，及一切阻拦神福音传送的东西上禁食。传道者是神的代表——[就好像神藉我们劝你们一般。]他要传的是神的福音。若人单因为我的讲道，而发奋向上，他们就永远无法接近主耶穌。我传福音若有任何高举自己，就必使我成了主耶稣的叛徒，因为我拦阻了他救赎的创造大能作工。[我若从地上被举起来，就要吸引万人来归向我。]
祈祷◆噢，主啊，我何等需要你！我来到你面前，求你恩慈地将更新的生命赐给我，直至我的理解力、想像力和说话都全属於你。今天我所寻求的，是你的感动和振奋的恩典。
July 17: The Miracle of Belief
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words. —1 Corinthians 2:4
Paul was a scholar and an orator of the highest abilities. When he says that he didn’t use “wise and persuasive words” in delivering the gospel, he isn’t speaking out of self-deprecating humility. He’s saying that if he’d tried to impress people with his talent when he preached the gospel, he would have veiled the power of God. Paul knew that belief in Jesus is a miracle produced by the redemption—by the sheer, unaided power of God—not by making fancy speeches.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to follow Paul’s example. If we are going to preach the gospel, we must practice a special kind of fasting—not from food but rather from eloquence and impressive diction, from everything that might hinder the word of God coming through us to reach others. The power of the redemption does flow through the preaching of the gospel, but we have to recognize that this power is never due to the personality or the eloquence of the preacher.
“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Preachers are representatives of God. We are commissioned to present his gospel, not human ideals. If it’s only because of my charisma that people desire to be better, they’ll never get anywhere near Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching will end in making me a traitor to Jesus, because I will prevent the creative power of his redemption from doing its work. “And I,” said Jesus, “when I am lifted up . . . will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).