Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, July 20, 2020
by R. Fergus Moir, Clergy Stuff
Oof. Am I a peddler of God’s word? I mean, I get paid to write devotions, so one could make the case that Paul’s calling me out. I looked up a bunch of translations of this passage to get my head around what’s meant by “peddler” here, and lots of translations show it to mean something more than just profiting from it, and far less than complementary. One translation talks of watering down the word of God and selling it cheap. Another uses the word “huckster” and says the only motivation of these folks for getting the word of God out is to make money from it. A footnote in the New King James version defines peddling as “adulterating for gain!”(Yikes!) I sure like to think that doesn’t describe me.
Those “persons of sincerity” are alternately translated as “men of integrity” (at which non-inclusive language I bristle, thank-you-very-much), as people who say what we hear from God “as honestly as we can,” or as those “with pure motives.”
I can’t claim that God speaks to me directly, or that I have any particular wisdom, much less a direct line on God’s word. But I do try, in whatever capacity God gives me, to reflect honestly on what God’s word says to me today, not to gain from my fumbling insights, but hopefully to serve others, to make us think, to ponder what God is saying to each of us, whether or not you agree with my perspective.
What is my motivation for sharing God’s word?
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