Are We Disarming the Good News?

If you said…

“Hey, awesome news! The Astros won The World Series!”
Wow, great. I’m not really a baseball fan.

It ain’t “good news” until it’s personal.

“Good news, honey! Mommy got a new dishwasher.”
“Yay. Can we pway at the pawk now?”

It’s not “good news” unless you understand its value or function. (Tell this to another mother and, of course, she will totally get it.)

Have you been told…

Is the Gospel good news to you on a personal level, or did you grow up hearing your parents or preacher tell you what the good news is?

What personal difference has God made in my life? Do I share that, or do I resort to default mode of telling someone to repent of sins? Whatever “sin” means.

Think about it.
Isn’t the Gospel of Luke a message written by a normal guy named Luke who tells how his life and the lives of others around him changed when they experienced Jesus Christ? Inspired by God, Luke chronicled the awesome interactions and miracles that changed the trajectory of his entire existence. (Same with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, all mere men, like us.) Are we chronicling our own miracles and wonders? 

Or have we never experienced anything worth telling the world about. (that’s not good news, that’s typical news)

Sure, maybe Luke left out the specifics of how it all affected him personally, but that allows me, the reader, to experience my own encounter with the Truth. The God-inspired Living Word makes a personal experience more than a possibility. It’s the live-action account of a Man, the Son of God, living a 100% human life, and the people He touched. The Helper wants to “help” us have the same effect on people, yes? John14

Jesus was The Good News packaged in human flesh. He was Salt and Light.
Now His followers are salt and light. “But if salt loses it’s saltiness, it’s good for nothing.” ⇐Are you getting trampled?

Are we the right kind of salty?

“From there he (Jesus) went all over Galilee …. God’s kingdom was his theme—that beginning right now they were under God’s government, a good government! He also healed people of their diseases and of the bad effects of their bad lives. Word got around the entire Roman province of Syria. People brought anybody with an ailment, whether mental, emotional, or physical. Jesus healed them, one and all. More and more people came…” Matthew 4:23-25 The Message
WOW! Good government? People healed of the effects of their bad lives? That’s relevant and functional–and totally Good News! Tell me more.
HOW CAN I GET ME SOME OF THAT?

“Repent (rethink) and believe,” Jesus said. “My Kingdom is here right now!” Matthew4:17

Rethink how your doing life. How’s that working for us? Do I believe in God who generously loves and heals. Does God supernaturally change the trajectory of my life, or not? Choose this day…

What about me? Personally? Oh, the stories I could tell you over a cup of tea of how God has deeply healed me and saved me from myself and from ugly circumstances. But more than that, I’d sincerely want you to taste love, feel mercy, and see joy. While we sit across the table from one another, I’d let know you are heard. I care, because God cares. I’d look you in the eye as I tell you just how much He is head-over-heels in love with you.

Perhaps I need to rethink this “good news” thing until I fall deep in love with God and in love with the people He created—all of them. Until I comprehend “being saved.” Then others will taste the salt of my words and thirst for Living Water like a man in a desert. I’ll have a personal “gospel” to share that’s relevant enough to make the listener ask “How can I get this?”

God, through you, wants to prove Himself personal, functional, and valuable. (He could do it all without us, but He delights to show off His spiritual armory through the humble. So let’s no longer disarm the ‘Good News’; lets grab our weapons.)

How about you?
Have you experienced God’s love in such a deep and meaningful way that you can’t help but share that life-changing, “good news” love with others? Ephesians 5:16

Today is your day, because tomorrow is for someone else.
Will you ask the Holy Spirit to help you rethink?

The Way of the Embattled Spirit