Preachers know what Mark Twain knew, that "the difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

Week after week as we labor to put the Word into words, we have to admit that we don't always strike the right word. Sometimes our verbs flash, sometimes they just flicker. Some of our nouns are bolts, others mere blips. We might be willing to settle for almost right, except the message deserves better. So we follow the example of Koheleth, who "searched to find just the right words" (Ecclesiastes 12:10).

We're after lightning, not lightning bugs.

Yet who has time to craft a verbal masterpiece every seven days? To write, rewrite, then -- like a professional author -- rewrite again the words we will speak on Sunday? Paying attention to words is just one part of sermon preparation, and sermon preparation has to compete with other activities in a hectic week.

What if we were to spend fifteen minutes each week working on one aspect of word choice, a different aspect each Sunday of the month? Could we hope to see lightning strike just a little more often? The following plan assumes a written manuscript or notes (even if we don't carry them to the pulpit) which we can review with an ear for the right words.

Week 1: Use Memorable Words

I can remember some sermons from years ago because the preacher stated the sermon's main idea in memorable terms. Michael Cocoris preached on "The Secret of Evangelism" to a seminary audience. After teasing us for twenty minutes on what the secret of evangelism is not, he asked, "You want to know what the secret of evangelism is? (Pause) Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, ...." He continued for half a minute and sat down. I'll never forget it.

Haddon Robinson, preaching from Luke 17:7-10, worded his big idea this way: "God owes me nothing; I owe him everything." Eight garden variety words. Words from any kindergartner's vocabulary. But memorably expressed.

Consider investing a few extra minutes one Sunday a month wordsmithing your main idea. Can you cast the sentence rhythmically like Robinson did? Can you resurrect it from the long ago and far away by using the present tense and direct address? Not, "Jesus gave his followers four abiding principles", but, "Jesus gives you...."

Can you retire a worn out word and employ a fresh one instead? Not "God blesses us," but "God showers us," or "thrills us," or "ravishes us."

Say you're preaching 1 Timothy 1:12- 17, on Paul's amazement that God saved him of all people, the worst of sinners. You decide that your main idea will be something along these lines: "God's mercy to a sinner like Paul is an encouragement to others who would believe on His Son." As an exegetical summary of the text, this is fine; but as a preaching theme it suffers from three flaws, any one of which could be fatal.

First, it's impersonal. It talks about Paul and "others;" but what about me? So you revise it: "God's mercy to the very worst of sinners is an encouraging example to the rest of us sinners who would believe on His Son."