Author: Tim Challies

It is one of the strengths, or perhaps one of the weaknesses, of the human mind that it can have different “tracks” playing at the same time. Even as one series of words is emerging from a person’s mouth, an entirely different series of words may be flitting through his brain. He can have an entire monologue playing internally, even as another is playing externally. Preachers are especially familiar with this phenomenon and become accustomed to saying one thing even as they think another. I sometimes wonder where this second track comes from, and especially when it is negative or discouraging. Is Satan planting thoughts into my mind that are meant to keep me from preaching with confidence or power? Or maybe Satan does not even need to, since I am plenty capable of thinking those thoughts without his intervention. I suppose it’s probably a combination of those factors and others. Regardless, if you have ever wondered what is going on in your pastor’s mind while he delivers his sermon, here are a few different possibilities—a few different options that may be playing on his second track. “Did I already say that?” This one is most prominent among those who preach without a full manuscript or who preach at multiple services. For those who preach extemporaneously or from a mere outline, or for those who are preaching the same sermon for the second or third time in a day, that second track can often be playing in the background of the preacher’s mind and inquiring,…See AlsoA La Carte (July 15)Why Satan Is So Skillful at Tempting Us to SinSatan Cast Out