A couple of weeks ago I was blessed to attend Polishing the Pulpit, aka PTP. Now do not let the name of this event fool you. This event is not just for preachers. Thousands of Christians from all over the world gathered for a little over a week to study God’s Word and fellowship together. For me Polishing the Pulpit is an annual spiritual renewal. It is something I look forward to and that I greatly missed since this event was canceled during 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. I heard so many great and wonderful lessons, and I have so many ideas that I hope will be beneficial to the congregation here at Siwell Road. But something happened while I was at PTP that I did not expect, and I am not talking about my family getting sick with Covid. My spiritual toes were stepped on over and over again. I do not know why I was surprised by this. Every time I open up the Word I see various ways in which I need to improve. Afterall, we read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The Word of God will always remain profitable and yet for some reason it caught me off guard when I was reproved and corrected. Was it pride? Complacency? Was I arrogantly relying on the knowledge I previously had? Was I so satisfied with good deeds of the past that I failed to look ahead for more opportunities to be a humble servant? Sadly, I think all of that may be true. The Bible tells us in James 4:6 that “. . .God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” We must all continually humble oursevles before God and His Word and continue to check the condition of our spiritual lives, always making sure that we are not letting pride, arrogance, complacency, or any other sin get in the way of us being the humble servants that we ought to be. (James 4:10) God can do amazing things in our lives and in the work of the Church, but we must remain humble servants that are constantly looking into the Word and relying on God to give the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:6-7) Like Paul, let us all “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”, and let us realize that we will always have things we need to do and ways in which we will need to improve. (Philippians 3:12-14) It does not take events like Polishing the Pulpit for spiritual renewal. Let us all be renewed day by day as we dive deeper into the Word of God.
Derek Broome