{"id":852998,"date":"2025-07-03T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=852998"},"modified":"2025-07-02T17:08:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T22:08:22","slug":"painting-pictures-of-the-word-with-your-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/painting-pictures-of-the-word-with-your-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Painting Pictures of the Word with Your Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

It happened again this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

A friend had worked really hard in preparing his Bible lesson. He had taken notes on a previous teaching time, made plans to improve his teaching, and was looking forward to his teaching this time. Not only had he studied the lesson well, but he had also prepared an important technological visual aid so his listeners would hear <\/span>and see <\/span><\/i>the lesson. He was so excited when he started the lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except, the technology didn\u2019t work.<\/span><\/p>\n

No matter what he and others tried to do, it didn\u2019t work.<\/span><\/p>\n

All his teaching plans, it seemed, had gone awry. At least, he felt that way. Frustration captured him quickly\u2014and his confidence in his teaching preparation wavered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019ve been there at some point, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my early years of ministry, our visual aid options would have been quite limited \u2013 maybe a flannel board (remember them?) or a slide projector \u2013 and we simply didn\u2019t think much about doing anything but speaking when we taught. We weren\u2019t, though, more spiritual than teachers are today; we just didn\u2019t have the options available today. My guess is that we would have used technology, too, had it been available.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, hear me closely: I am <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>arguing against the use of technology to undergird our teaching. The educator in me thinks pedagogically, and the missionary in me thinks contextually\u2014and both point to the importance of visual teaching and learning in today\u2019s culture. There\u2019s unquestionably, in my judgment, a place for using technological tools in teaching the Word today.<\/span><\/p>\n

We just can\u2019t depend on those tools.<\/span><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t depend on them because they won\u2019t always work like we had planned. The electricity might go out. Your computer or projector might quit working. God might even give you an opportunity to teach in a place where there’s little electricity in the first place. Even in places around the world where cell service is surprisingly available, the use of cell phone technology for teaching is limited to its functioning properly.<\/span><\/p>\n

More specifically, though, we just need to learn in general to use our own words to paint the pictures of the Word for our listeners as we teach and preach. The Word is powerful on its own, and we\u2019re both privileged and challenged to teach it well. Think with me about some of the stories of the Scriptures that readily challenge us to read and explain the Word with vivid imagery:<\/span><\/p>\n