I LOVE Political Commercials!

Neal Pollard

No, I don't!  I hate them.  But, I imagine that statement both caught your attention and led you to do an armchair assessment of my sanity (or lack thereof).  There are so many reasons not to love them.  First is content.  Every candidate makes vague, pie-in-the-sky promises that are hard to measure and quantify.  Second is tone.  The mud content of most is thick and dirty, and their razor-sharp rhetoric about the other guy pushes the mental pain threshold of the most patient listener.  Third is repetition.  Certainly, the same commercial will air repeatedly, but the proliferation of such ads in general is so great that it seems to be every other commercial.  

I love gospel preaching!  That is the truth.  I love to hear the old, old story faithfully told through the medium of different men with different styles, personalities, and perspectives.  Short or tall, young or old, experienced or less so, well-educated or less so, I glean at least something from most lessons I hear.  Content, tone, and balance can   make or break the message, though the message rather than the man should be the focus.  Truth should be told, and it should be told in love!  It should never be that we should turn off the listener by changing the message or using methods that are unkind and even unscrupulous.

The relief is that political ad season is relatively short-lived (it only seems otherwise).  The joy is that we get to hear God's Word proclaimed whenever we assemble to worship God.  The more we fill those lessons with Bible, properly parsed and presented, the more proper feeding and nourishing will occur among those who properly listen.  Perhaps thanks to the Jule Miller Filmstrips, one of my favorite songs says, "Tell me the story of Jesus, write on my heart every word.  Tell me the story most precious, sweetest that ever was heard." Amen!

(P.S.--That's a big reason why I am so excited about our lectureship this week!  What a theme and what great speakers to thrill our souls with the matchless story!)