You sit down to watch a movie on your TV. You pop it in the DVD player, push play, and wait. After the FBI warning comes this message on your screen:
'This has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen."
And as comedian Steven Wright says, "Imagine if it wasn't modified. All I'd see is a huge knuckle!"
Watch a movie in the theater and it's huge. That's because t's designed to be viewable by hundreds of people at the same time. Watch the same movie at home and it HAS to be modified to fit the smaller screen on your TV. Now, apply this principle to the Gospel.
Ed Stetzer, in the concept of contextualizing, asks, "Are you communicating in such a way that your words actually convey biblical truth to your audience? Or does your preaching float right past your hearers because it's not delivered 'on a frequency' that they listen to?"
The movie metaphor is this: The content hasn't changed just because it was modified to fit your TV. The story is still the same. The method of delivery has the audience in mind. Same content. Different format.
What does this have to do with life balance and serving strong?
I have a theory: When we try to share a message of hope to a world that isn't hearing it because the delivery is off, it takes more energy. We are working harder than is necessary. On the contrary, contextualizing is a leverage of time and energy. When we do our research on our audience and deliver accordingly we serve strong.
What are your thoughts?
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