A praising heart

I've done a lot of musing, which is what these things used to be called, about how to build or at least refurbish a church. Bring people in and such. What I've figured out, after much research and prayer, is it takes hard, hard work. Whew. And I thought this would be hard.

The good thing is I, we, have help. God is on our side, and the Bible makes clear that if he is, then who can be against us?

In Isaiah's writings, we find this: "1 "Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.

3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

4 "Lift up your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the arm.

5 Then you will look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
to you the riches of the nations will come."

And in the New Testament there are those words about newcomers being added daily.

See, it seems to me that adding persons to our churches, to the body of Christ comes when we are attentive to the needs of those persons, when we love those persons intentionally and without reservation and when we are there for them in their hours of need.

I do not think we add persons to the body when we picket, bully or show our distaste for the sins of others while overlooking our own planks of sin.

How do we add persons to the body?

In the 61st chapter of Isaiah, there are those wonderful words, "1-7 The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.
He sent me to preach good news to the poor,
heal the heartbroken,
Announce freedom to all captives,
pardon all prisoners.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace—
a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies—
and to comfort all who mourn,
To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,
give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,
Messages of joy instead of news of doom,
a praising heart instead of a languid spirit."

Jesus used those words, or words like them, to announce he had come to supply Israel with a bountiful message of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Can we do less? Can we do differently?

Well, we can, but it won't work.