When I started writing yesterday’s story of the two sets of spies, contrasting one set’s physical report with the other two’s psychological report, I didn’t know it would end up as a call to share the good news with courage.

That message was reinforced by these paragraphs from the December 24 Advent series article from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC.ORG.UK, a ministry I wholeheartedly endorse!):

It’s tough to share our faith in a context where on the one hand, people think they know the bones of it from nativity plays and Christmas cards, and on the other, the highest value is placed on individual choice.

But imagine if no one had told us we could know the God who made us, that we could live forgiven and new lives, and that we could live forever in his loving presence.

Let’s be brave and make sure everyone we know has the chance to accept the gift of a new relationship with God. – Good News Worth Sharing, Jo Swinney, LICC, December 24, 2023, emphasis mine

A good word.

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night… (Philippians 2.14, 15, MSG)

Strength! Courage! (Joshua 1.6, 9, MSG)