Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.

Sometimes we forget that the Gospel is gentle and comforting. The famous message by Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was appropriate precisely because it opened people’s eyes to the reality that they needed the grace of God, but the ultimate focus was on the availability of that grace. As a result, it triggered the revival that has been called The Great Awakening, and it was an important event in preparing the colonies for the coming war of independence from England. Sometimes we forget that real love is both strong and gentle. God’s love is strongest of all, and it is the most gentle. Putting these two verses in the context of the New Testament, the proclamation is that Jesus has already paid the price for our sins, so we don’t have to labor to be accepted by God, but just believe that it has already been accomplished. There are times when strong words of correction are called for, but ultimately the message is of the love of God, and a call to love Him in return. If we love Him appropriately, we will never do anything against Him but seek to please Him in every detail. That’s why Saint Augustine said, “Love God and do as you please.” The problem lies in the fact that we have such a limited, distorted grasp of love. We are familiar with Jesus’ distillation of the Law of Moses into two commandments, to love God with all we are and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, (Matthew 22:37-40) but we trip up by failing to understand love in the first place. The better we grasp what love is, through receiving God’s love and loving Him in return, the more effective we will be in loving others into His family.

Here again I had the enormous advantage of being raised in a genuinely loving family, where respect and discipline were part of it all. Sadly, I deal with a lot of people who didn’t grow up in that sort of environment, so love is a lot harder to explain to them. That applies both to the marriage counseling I do and to evangelism, and indeed to every facet of leading this church. I need to understand and remember that problems often stem from a failure to grasp what love is, and not cloud the situation further by descending into legalism. I am to be a demonstration of the love of God in every area of my life, so that people will get a glimpse of Him through me. Yesterday I said some things that were true enough, but they weren’t expressed in fully loving ways, and I got called on it. I need to keep learning how to “speak tenderly to Jerusalem!”

Father, thank You for all the input You allow in my life. Help me respond as You intend, growing in my knowledge and love of You and my love for those around me, so that I may be an open channel of Your grace and blessing at all times, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!