A Consuming Pursuit

The pursuit of biblical preaching should be consuming. The verb “give attention to” (prosecho) means “to turn one’s mind to” something in order to “occupy oneself with, devote or apply oneself to it.” This same word is used Hebrews 7:13 to depict “the absolute absorption” with which the priest stood at the altar with “all thought and energy taken up with the object.” Thus, Timothy was “to apply himself” or “devote himself” with undivided allegiance to this foundational ministry of biblical preaching and teaching.

Paul had already used this verb in speaking of the dangers in Ephesus of people who “pay attention to myths” (1 Timothy 1:4) and those who are “paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (4:1). In combating these dangers, Timothy was to devote himself to “the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.” The same is still true today with those who have been called to the pulpit. Their ministry of preaching is to be a consuming pursuit, not a secondary issue. Gardiner Spring, nineteenth-century pastor in New York City, stated, “The great object of every minister of the Gospel ought to be to give the services of the pulpit the pre-eminence over every other department of ministerial labor.”

Excerpt taken from Famine in the Land, by Steven Lawson.