Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 136th episode. In this episode I want to study Isaiah chapter 62. This chapter describes how the prophets were responsible for both preaching and praying. Isaiah was inspired to do this work with precision and consistency. The words of Isaiah reached forward through time and encouraged Israel during their days of captivity in Babylon. His words still encourage us today. Isaiah brought attention to the promises God made for His people in Israel as well as for all of us in the Christian Church today. When Israel came home from Babylon they would be made honorable in the sight of many. The Christian Church has been made honorable in the eyes of the world today – it spans the entire globe and includes billions of members. By His providence God has made clear how precious He considers His Church. One of the promises found in this chapter is that the Church shall enjoy bountiful resources. Israel would be released from captivity and they would grow again into a formidable nation. Those who give their lives to Christ are released from captivity to sin and set free to grow into well-adjusted individuals. These become the children of God spread far and wide across the Earth, and held in particular esteem by the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s begin with verses 1-5:
Isa 62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
Isa 62:2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give.
Isa 62:3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
Isa 62:4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.
Isa 62:5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Isaiah was a prophet which meant he was given special insight into the revelation of God. Along with this insight came the responsibility of being a spokesman. He had to tell the people what they could not otherwise know. By all accounts he took this work very seriously and aspired to do it with precision. Of course, he was guided by the Spirit of God Himself so his accuracy was guaranteed to be perfect. But it still required a lot of faith on the part of Isaiah. He made a resolution against silence and he refused to rest. His mind was fixed on his mission and he was willing to endure great pain to see it through. Isaiah was similar to Christ in this way. Both had a job to do and both pursued their goals with tireless persistence.
Isaiah was a preacher and he resolved against holding his peace. Undoubtedly he spoke in a hostile environment surrounded by many godless Israelites. It would have been very tempting to keep quiet and blend in with the mob. But Isaiah took the difficult and narrow path of faithfully preaching the word of God. He sought not only to do this accurately, but to continuously repeat the messages he received from the Lord. This idea has great utility for both preachers and everyone else. You should never be afraid of repeating the same messages over and over so long as the messages are true. Isaiah understood that not everyone would receive God’s word upon their first hearing. So much of what we learn about God needs to be inculcated across time – line upon line and precept by precept. Repetition is how human beings learn. That’s why propagandists will repeat the same buzzwords or phrases over and over until their listeners begin to believe the deceptions. If we exist in a space where our teachers of Scripture are continuously repeating the precepts of God, that’s how we know we’re doing things correctly.
In addition to preaching, Isaiah set himself firmly in his willingness to pray. He decided he would never be silent at the throne of God’s grace until the mercies God promised had been delivered. Isaiah helped to establish the example for today’s pastors by giving himself over to prayer and to the ministry of Scripture. Those whose calling it is to work for God must labor frequently in both prayer and in study of the word. We should never allow ourselves to grow tired of this work because even when it feels vain, God has guaranteed us that it is good work. Ministers are like spokesmen on behalf of God to God’s people, and spokesmen on behalf of God’s people to God. In neither case should we ever fall silent.
Isaiah resolved to do this for the sake of Jerusalem, not for any private interest of his own. He had great affection for God’s people and their well-being rested near to his own heart. Even if he must sacrifice his own well-being, his desire to witness the good of Jerusalem was enough for him to seek it all the days of his life. Every pastor should share this attitude today. We don’t do this work for our own self-interest. We do this work because fundamentally we wish to advance the Kingdom of God here on Earth. Indeed, this perspective denotes the very perspective of God Himself. God doesn’t work salvation because He needs to for His own self-interest. He does so because His people are dear to Him and His glory is interested in their well-being.
Isaiah resolved to never quit until the promise of the church’s righteousness and salvation be accomplished. In his case he labored on until his own death. Remember, he was preaching these things long before Israel went into exile. Isaiah himself would not live to see the captives released from Babylon. This was also long before the gospel was brought in by Christ. But what’s interesting about Scripture is that it never passes away. Here we are approximately 2,700 years after Isaiah’s death – and still he is speaking to us. Still his prophecies are being preached and still prayers are being prayed which are based on his words. Even today Isaiah refuses to hold his peace because the utmost redemption of the world has not yet come. Innumerable pastors have preached the words of Isaiah and prayed for the same promises the prophet also prayed for. The word of God is perhaps the only message which has been spoken to every generation consecutively until this very moment. It reaches out through time – eternal and immortal. The words of Scripture that you hear when you listen to this podcast are the same words heard by those who lived in a comparatively unrecognizable and ancient world. Pretty fascinating when you reflect on it.
They say pastors don’t retire they expire. Like Isaiah, many of us have resolved to continue in this work until we die or until Christ returns. We won’t stop until the Church’s righteousness and salvation shine forth like a bright lamp which burns so plainly as to be self-evident. We seek a light which brings honor and comfort to the Church. We look for the day when the Church appears pleasant and illustrious to those who witness it. The Church of Christ is a bright light which provides instruction and direction to a lost world. The Church is a beacon of light which can bee seen from afar for those who seek a loving home and the belonging to a family. The light of the Church breaks across the path of those who previously sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. It provides hope to those who were once hopeless. And all of this is only possible because of Jesus Christ and His word. He is the all-sufficient Source of life and of light.
Ultimately, our prayers and our preaching can only be effective because of God’s grace. Isaiah prayed and preached, but God is the One who confirmed the word and answered the prayers. Christ imputed His righteousness to the Church which became its salvation, its praise, and its glory. This righteousness became a bright light which attracted Gentiles from far and wide to join with their Creator. In a lost world the righteousness of God emanates to those who seek it. Even kings and dignitaries were captivated by the love and glory of Christ’s righteousness. Many would go on to hold the spiritual glory of the Church as that which excels even the glory of their own kingdoms.
God declares that His Church shall be honorable and admirable. God’s judgment about something is the perfect representation of truth and so we can be certain all opinions will eventually concur with it. When Christ establishes His Kingdom the respect and admiration of the Church will become purified and uninterrupted by sin. The Church’s honor comes from God who bestows it. As a result, healthy churches do many things which are befitting of this honor. Things like sense making, truth seeking, and benevolence. The earliest universities were in fact born of the Church. We see glimmers of this future honor in the church today – although there are still some churches who do bad things.
Under the perfect reign of Jesus the Church shall be given a new name which comes from the mouth of the Lord. The Church shall be called a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord. It’s important to note the crown is in His hand – not on His head. The reason for this distinction is that the Church doesn’t add anything to the already perfect glory of God. It’s more like God holds the Church in His hand as if He is pleased to show them off as a glory and beauty to Him. When God created the universe He beheld it and said that it was good. With humanity came the fall. But after God redeems the universe and the Church He will once again behold them and say that they are good. The hand of God will make sure this happens and the hand of God will preserve this glory forever.
Another name which God will call the Church is His bride. The depth of meaning in this title might be immeasurable, but it is certainly meant to confer even greater honor than the crown of glory. It gives us insight into the profound grace and love of God. The fact that He would accept a gathering of people who were once so warped and melancholy – then be willing to hold them close and honor them as His partners – is nothing short of astounding. There was a time when the Church was called forsaken and her land was left desolate. Indeed her situation was quite similar to a wife reproachfully divorced and left without consolation. The state of religion before Christ came and preached the gospel was forsaken and desolate. Humanity sought after their own ways, their own idols, and paid little attention to the things of God. But God wouldn’t abandon the Church to such reproach, no, He returned in His mercy to lift it up. In the future God will make the Church very pleasant and the Hebrew name used to denote this condition is Hephzibah which means my delight is in her.
The grace of God is working to transform the Church in to that which He delights in. The same is happening to each of us as individuals. We are being refined and reformed so that we may be brought home to Him. But it’s not like we have to be good enough on our own efforts in order to earn the delight of God. It’s rather the case that He already delights in us and the fact that He honors us empowers us to be refined by His grace. Another Hebrew term used to describe the future condition of the Church is Beulah which means married. Before the gospel of Christ the Church had been left desolate which is in effect the opposite of married. The married Church is said to be fruitful and replenished. It goes from being largely deserted to being full of people once again. When Israel was held captive in Babylon they were essentially required to espouse a foreign land. It’s not like they could just go home so they had to try to make peace where they were. But after their salvation they would once again marry their own land and take great delight in it.
In the same way we’ve all had to do our best to make peace with the cards which have been dealt to us in this life. We’ve had to espouse a foreign land which is not our eternal home. But when we return to God the Father who gave us life, we too will be married to a land which was always meant for us. We will delight in heaven just as Israel delighted in their own territory. But it’s even better than that because God will also betroth Himself to us and to the Church. He will betroth the Church to Himself in righteousness, in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. God will rejoice over the Church as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride. Zephaniah says the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. The Psalms say the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love. Jeremiah says God will rejoice in doing them good, and He will plant them in this land of faithfulness, with all His heart and all His soul. Jesus Christ loves His Church and He loves you. Jesus loves with agape – the purest and most self-sacrificial form of love which is sourced in and embodied by God. This love will be complete in heaven. Let’s read verses 6-9:
Isa 62:6 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest,
Isa 62:7 and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
Isa 62:8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored;
Isa 62:9 but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”
This passage promises that the Church should have an abundance of good preaching and good praying. These are two elements that God requires of us in order to further extend His mercy upon us. It’s not like we must earn His mercy, it’s more like He’s laid out the proper pathway to His mercy and the proper pathway is composed of good preaching and good praying. Preachers function like watchmen on the walls of the Church. A good preacher never holds his peace and understands that the Church is like a city under siege. There are constantly negative influences and toxic ideas trying to make their way into the congregation. You’ve probably heard pastors talk about this problem as a justification for being dogmatic or close-minded. I actually think it justifies the opposite. The more you understand bad ideas – how they originate and what motivates people to adopt them – the better you can expose these ideas as being fallacious. A preacher doesn’t protect his congregation from bad ideas by shielding them in a bubble of confirmation bias. It’s better to teach your people how to think with discernment so they can filter out false teaching on their own. This practice requires the preacher to be alert, faithful, and willing to endure the discomfort of exploring opposing viewpoints.
Part of being alert means keeping up with the present moment. Effective preachers understand the issues of the day and work to help their listeners interpret them. For example, think about the current pandemic. The preachers who tended to fall on the correct side of this issue understood both Scripture and pandemics. I’m not saying they were epidemiologists, but they practiced due diligence to understand the issue as much as they could. The ones who flew in blind ended up misapplying Scripture. It’s not that they failed to understand Scripture but it’s that they failed to understand the context in which they were applying it. If you fail to understand the reality of what’s going on in your life then how can you know which Scriptures are relevant to that moment? You need to be able to interpret current events which is why it’s very important for preachers to pay attention.
Another part of being alert means continuously preaching the eternal truths of Scripture even when they feel out of season. The gospel remains relevant even when the culture says it isn’t. We’re very fortunate in the western world that we have the freedom to preach the gospel safely. But there may come a time when it requires faith and bravery to speak up for the cause of Christ. Good preachers always speak up. Good pastors pray without ceasing. It’s okay to be smart about it – I’m not saying you should run down the street screaming for people to repent. I’m saying you should work to develop your worldview with meticulous precision so that when the moment comes to defend it you’ll be ready. We exist in a constant war of ideas. Church leaders need to be developed and prepared so they can step into the marketplace of ideas and point people to the truth.
It’s a blessing for a congregation to have a good preacher, but it’s even better when this good preacher is backed up by mature Christians. The people of God should resolve to never be silent either. They should pray for themselves in addition to the preacher praying on their behalf. The character of God’s people is such that they continuously profess Jesus even when their surroundings are forsaken and desolate. Not long ago I did an episode titled Elevating the Conversation – it is MHB 123. I made the case that there is always a public conversation being had. If you wish to participate in society then participating in the conversation is not optional. As Christians it is our duty to have an effective conversation about the things of God. This public conversation helps us to hone our understanding with increased precision and commit greater portions of it to memory. We end up stabilizing our foundation in Scripture thus building a stronger framework through which to understand our lives. The better our conversation, the less people will fall away for misunderstood reasons or get stuck in some kind of false teaching. It is the duty of all Christians to continue in good-faith discussion about the Lord.
In addition to this public conversation, God’s people must pray regularly. God’s people are called Israel. The name Israel means: those who wrestle with God. You should voice your deepest desires to God. Don’t be afraid to wrestle with God over your most difficult agonies. God wants you to pray without ceasing and to petition Him tirelessly. Abraham pleaded with God repeatedly to intercede for any who might be righteous in Sodom. As Jacob wrestled with God near the Jabbok stream, he refused to let go until God blessed him. Moses questioned and reasoned with God to have mercy on Israel after they made an idol out of a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. Jesus rewarded the faith of the Canaanite woman after she refused to stop calling after Him. God never grows tired of our prayers so neither should we grow tired of praying. God is not like humanity in the sense that human beings become annoyed. God actually invites and encourages us to reason with Him and wrestle with Him in our prayers.
When petitioning God, one topic that should always be of interest to us is the well-being of the Church. We should pray for the safety of the Church and the strong establishment of it. We should pray for the Church to operate successfully now and in the future. We should pray for the interests of the Church to be set firm in the world. The well-being of the Church is directly tied to the well-being of broader society. A properly functioning church is a source of goodness on Earth which gives innumerable people reasons to praise God. Society does well when its churches are preaching the truths found in Scripture clearly and precisely. If a church works to articulate the gospel ordinances with clarity and consistency, then that church becomes eminent for its holiness and love. When enough churches are operating this way society becomes our imperfect yet best representation of the Kingdom of Heaven. These values are what produce stability, prosperity, and a good reputation on the world stage.
Some of the most difficult prayers can be those in which we pray for mercy. These prayers are difficult because they come during times of struggle. They come during times when you feel like there is no God to pray to. But a proper Christian aims to persevere in his or her prayers for mercy upon the Church. We must seek mercy until mercy comes. You might think it’s masochistic or weak to implore mercy when God is walking you through a dark season – but it’s actually deeply wise. The world is contaminated with the viewpoint that if someone or something causes you to struggle, the brave option is to wage war on that thing. It’s true that violence is sometimes necessary to defend the defenseless. But brute force and angry revolution are not always the wise answers. To wage war on God is to become resentful, bitter, and permanently trapped in your own misery. Seeking God’s mercy and imploring His grace during times of struggle prevents you from opening any of these unnecessary little pockets of hell in your life.
When enough people praise God their society tends toward the direction of prosperity. Individuals speak and act with integrity and this integrity becomes reflected in their institutions. Well-functioning institutions allow people to transcend many of the common difficulties that come with surviving in a fallen world. When Israel returned from Babylon God promised that the Earth would yield its increase and the people would actually get to keep it. During their times of distress Israel’s crops were taken and consumed by their enemies. This turned into a very difficult problem because the people of Israel were unable to feed their own families while their product was being used to strengthen their enemies. This loss of resources was part of God’s judgment on Israel for how they acted during times of surplus. It’s a well-known axiom in the Church that if leadership hoards and abuses wealth then God will find a way to drain them of it. If tithes aren’t being used to advance the Kingdom of God, you can be sure God is going to allocate those resources somewhere else.
When taken to Babylon, the Israelites couldn’t even access basic creature comforts like wine. A little bit of wine might have helped the sorrow of their situation. But instead they had to watch their captors guzzle it down to satisfy their own lusts. This presents a good argument for not investing your sense meaning in material stuff. If you put all of your labor and all of your faith into your wealth, losing it will cause you unbearable pain. After the virus made landfall in the United States, our country lost something like 30% of its GDP almost immediately. Untold billions of dollars in wealth evaporated like it was never there at all. People who worked their whole lives to climb the ladder lost six-figure incomes permanently. Of course it wasn’t their fault but I’m sure that sentiment didn’t help their pain much. If you invest all of yourself into worldly gain then you make yourself vulnerable to the possibility of having your entire life rendered meaningless overnight. A better way to do it is to try your best at whatever your work is. Feed your family and save money when you can. But remember to put all of your faith and invest all of your meaning in Jesus Christ – because no one can take the Kingdom of God away from you.
Upon their return from Babylon, the Israelites would once again be blessed with abundant resources. When a population is properly oriented toward God they experience His mercy in the form of a functional economy. I’m not saying God makes you rich. I’m saying you’ll never have the trust-levels or the workforce necessary to produce a functional economy if most of your individuals are deceptive, manipulative, resentful, and useless. Not to mention the fact that unstable individuals means unstable diplomatic relations. People can’t work to build up their country if their off fighting wars or suffering from a plague. Also notice how being robbed of the product of your efforts was used by God as punishment for Israel. This seems to be a clear indication that we aren’t designed to put in work just to watch the fruits of our labors be taken by the government or some foreign entity. People stop producing great things when they’re unable to benefit from the fruits of their labor. If people stop producing great things then we stop having access to great things. It’s not greedy to be paid for your work. Being paid for your work is God’s design and is thoroughly Biblical.
When God blesses us with abundant resources, He desires that we use them for positive enjoyment and the betterment of life. God is a cheerful giver, He desires us to be cheerful givers, and He wants us to be cheerful in the use of what He gives. It’s up to us to gather what God gives with great care and industry. We shouldn’t hoard these things and create idols out of them, rather we should use them to bless our neighbors and fuel the economy. As we are nourished by the blessings of God’s resources, we must remember to give Him thanks for His bounty to us. The more God gives us the more we should use it to serve Him. If we are blessed with great wealth then we should do great works of charity. We should support the Church and the community so that the poor have access to their share.
When we think about what God has given us, our greatest comfort should come from knowing we have the ability to provide service to the Kingdom of God. The best part of wealth is the ability to honor God with it and to do good things for the world. That’s why you see very rich people engaging in philanthropy even if they aren’t religious. We are designed to be cheerful givers and productive workers. We should enjoy God’s resources responsibly – this is particularly true of alcohol. Drinking alcohol is not a sin, but you should always remember to do so moderately and with sobriety – as if you are drinking in the presence of the Lord.
The promise of God’s providence is ratified by His own swearing to do it. God’s word is so certain and so perfect that He can swear by His own right hand by the might of His arm that He will see it through. God gives us strong consolation to trust in Him and to trust in His word. Sometimes He swears His oath upon His own being because there is nothing higher upon which He can swear it. Sometimes He issues promises that are sworn by His own holiness. In this case His promises are declared by the power of His own arm. So He’s essentially saying if I don’t do this then you and all my enemies can say it’s because I wasn’t able to. He’s wagering His own omnipotence on it. You can take great satisfaction by building your hopes on God’s promises because what He promises He is certainly able to perform. We can take great comfort in knowing that God uses the infinite depths of His power to carry out His plans for us. If we have the faith to move forward with Him then nothing can push us astray of the future He intends for us. Let’s read verses 10-12:
Isa 62:10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples.
Isa 62:11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”
Isa 62:12 And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
This passage refers to both the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon as well as to the great redemption brought on by Christ through the proclamation of gospel grace. In both cases God has cleared the way for salvation. He cleared the roads and removed difficult challenges for Israel as they returned home from Babylon. Using Cyrus and the Persian army, God threw open the gates of Babylon so His people could walk through them into their freedom. The Persian army had built roads and causeways through swampy places and smoothed the rocky roads. There were flags and other signage posted to give Israel direction. This would have helped to encourage them as well because they could see how close they were getting to home as they journeyed on. It’s part of God’s nature to prepare the way for those who are walking according to His purpose for them. John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ by calling out for people to repent of their sins. Repentance itself is like God preparing your heart to receive the gospel of peace.
Israel’s salvation out of Babylon was no secret. It was proclaimed to the captives as well as to those who were around them. News traveled far and wide that Cyrus had conquered Babylon and liberated the Jews. The same sort of thing happens when a person comes to Christ. They humble themselves, or are humbled, so they might be prepared for God’s reformation of their heart. Their conversion becomes known to those around them and often they are baptized in public for all to see. Isaiah foretold the salvation of Israel so they might take comfort in it. Jesus foretold our own salvation so that we might take comfort in Him. God’s work of salvation will be such a grand design as to be admired by all who know it. Salvation brings comfort and peace with God. It is this salvation which will culminate in humanity being called the holy people or the redeemed of the Lord.
God’s work becomes evident in individuals as they are healed of their inclination to sin and set apart for His purposes. When this work is complete we will be a holy people consecrated to God alone. The salvation which is a consequence of God’s work will be evidence that we are a redeemed people. It’s no accident that so many Christians were once outcasts and troublemakers. It’s in God’s character to take a person who is least expected to do good things, redeem him or her, and shape them into an influential member of the Kingdom of God. Paul was a pharisaic murderer who persecuted Christians. Jesus got a hold of him and transformed him into the apostle who wrote most of the New Testament. Peter was a fisherman who was likely illiterate and a very average person. He even denied Jesus three times when things got dangerous. So at some point in his life Peter was a very average coward. But Jesus redeemed him and appointed him to be the rock of His Church. The Church houses innumerable former alcoholics, drug addicts, and other people with challenging histories. Jesus glorifies Himself by redeeming such as these, for who else could redeem them? Jesus Christ is the one you go to for another chance at life. And here’s the dirty little secret: all of us need another chance at life.
When Israel was in captivity Jerusalem was a forsaken city. It was once frequented by worshipers and merchants, but after the exile no one inquired of it. But when God brought His people home they came with His intention of making Jerusalem considerable again. Not only would others notice the city, but it would be sought out by travelers and people far and wide would once again rely on it. This is also true in the ultimate sense because Jerusalem is God’s holy city. It is sought out because holiness adds nobility and beauty to any place or person. Human beings have an inclination toward admiration which we can’t really control. We can’t control it in the sense that it was built into us from long before we lived. We admire holiness, we respect competence and benevolence. We spurn things like evil and deception. This is because each of us has a native inclination to admire our beloved Lord. We wouldn’t even need redeemed if that inclination made up all of our hearts. But unfortunately we are also inclined toward sinful vices like pride, lust, greed, and all the rest.
I think this inclination toward admiration of godly qualities is in part why the gospel has survived for 2,000 years and spread across the entire planet. The gospel radiates the glory of Jesus Christ. The Church hears it every service, but it also echoes out into secular society where it is picked up by the built-in admiration structure which is endemic to all of humanity. People on the outside see Christians who are not simply happy because of Christ, but are quite actually happy in Christ. Christ is not only the Savior, but He is also salvation itself. The Good News of Christ brings with it the work of God as well as the rewards which follow. God’s work is sanctifying your heart so that you may be prepared to satisfy His eternal calling for you. The reward for this journey is being able to stand in the presence of God, which is heaven, as a holy child of God.
The gospel also brings forward the beauty of the Church. As Christians progress in sanctification they become more and more like saints. They are liberated people who owe their liberty to the redemption of God. Knowing this, it’s not uncommon for Christians to step forward and wish to serve their Lord – be it through teaching, preaching, or benevolence to the poor. They just want to be like Christ and advance His Kingdom in any way that they can. One of the interesting things about being a Christian is that the more Christlike you become, the more outsiders who are seeking God will seek you as well. They can see God in you. They can see the one they seek being reflected in yourself. This reflection is the most powerful evangelistic tool, bar none. Being successful in advancing God’s Kingdom is less about having all the right things to say and more about allowing God to purify His image in you and shine that light into the lives of others. Most people will not retain most of the things you say. But they will always remember how you loved them. Everyone wants to be loved and when it comes to loving people Christians should corner the market. By loving your neighbor as you love yourself you will reveal yourself to be the redeemed of the Lord. And all who seek God will notice this light in you. They will be drawn to you, because they are drawn to the redemption which shines inside of you.
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