The Pressure to Perform

Preaching can be an exhilarating experience where I get to stand and share the moving, life-giving, transforming words of God to his people for his glory. I love those days where things seem so clear and the message nearly leaps from my mouth. It's good.

Then there are those other days. Those days where I struggle to think of what I should say. Those days where the Scriptures are loathe to give up their mysteries to me. Those days when I feel like I'm performing more than preaching. It's not so good, then.

I don't want my support of using images to feel like an additional pressure piled on already beleaguered preachers. I feel you. I know how it goes. God says: "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." But notice that he doesn't give us a time frame - he doesn't tell us how long the seeking will last. He just tells us to seek.

How do you seek God? How do you deal with the pressure to perform?