“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:4-7 NIV)
Let us remember that it is a full salvation that we offer. Some… have been content to save their people and leave them to heaven. John and Charles Wesley insisted that we are saved so that we can grow. They believed that their somewhat ragtag group of butchers, miners, and household servants could become saints. We are challenged to believe as grandly for the computer generation, for a century of skeptics, and the spiritually cautious.
And we are saved to serve our present age. Traditionally, we have believed we could spread scriptural holiness throughout the land. Now we must do so in a time when family structures are under assault, while political systems build their new Babels, and when the evils of misery, poverty, and war seem more entrenched than ever.
-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “Our First Song: Evangelism in the Hymns of Charles Wesley” (1984)
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