Whatever you do, DON'T BURY THE LEAD
One of my old journalism professors in college used to spit when he would talk about burying the lead. The very idea that one of his students might even consider one day writing a newspaper article in which the lead of the story was buried just sent him raging up and down the aisles of the classroom.
"Bury the Lead" is a journalism term that refers to putting the secondary details of a story first in an article, while the most important information is buried later in the story. Instead, the journalist is supposed to concisely communicate the main point of the story first so that the reader is informed and, perhaps even, hooked, inclined to read the rest of the article.
This same professor would summarize his lecture saying, "Major on the major things and put first things first."
In the life of a Christian, the lead is Christ; the major thing is Christ; and the first thing is Christ. He is our priority. He is our most important. And he should be our lead.
Far too often, however, we bury the lead. Whether it's in our relationships at home, with our neighbors, at work, or at school, we seem to cover everything else first and then, maybe, years later, we eventually get around to the lead of the story: Jesus Christ.
We'll talk about sports with our neighbors for years, but not the Gospel.
We'll discuss morals, character values, geography, and math with our kids, but not the Gospel.
We'll enjoy talks about movies and music with our co-workers and friends, but not the Gospel.
And we'll even find ourselves burying the lead with our spouses, making time for everything but Christ and his Gospel.
When Paul wrote the church in Corinth, he reminded them that he did not bury the lead. He wrote, "I delivered to you as of FIRST IMPORTANCE...that Christ died for our sins...that he was buried, that he was raised" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The Gospel was of first importance. The Gospel was the lead.
If we are to point our families and others to Christ, then we must flee from the temptation to bury the lead, saving the Gospel for later paragraphs and later years, and we must embrace the urgency of proclaiming the Good News of Christ.
I know my professor would agree.
