Good news: kids under twelve eat free. When I see offers like that, it really doesn’t excite me. I think it is more like interesting news. My children are grown, so unless the offer is about old folks eating free, I do not get too excited. Good news is something that I can participate in; interesting news is what other people participate in. The Bible talks about good news. If you believe it, it is the best news ever. If not, it is something interesting to talk about. That good news is gospel.

Christians like that word. It is also a word used in our culture to mean something that is absolutely real and true. But in the Bible it is used to mean good news. Preaching the gospel is preaching good news. Gospel truth is good news truth. Believing the gospel is believing good news. The apostle Paul wrote in the Bible that the good news is what he preached and what is most important. Good news is what saves us. So what is this “good news”?

Paul explains that the good news is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. Jesus died to pay for my sins, my offenses against God. All the things I did that I should not have done. All the things I should have done and did not. The things that keep me from a holy God have been paid for by God’s own son. Not only that, but he came back to life. Jesus, God’s son, paid for my sins by his death on the cross and God brought him to life again. That is good news. That is great news.

This good news is not just something for me to intellectually acknowledge, but something I get to participate in. In another one of the books in the Bible, Paul reminds us that our baptism was sharing in the death and burial of Jesus. And just as he was raised from the dead, we are raised to a new life. Because we shared in his death, we will share in his resurrection. I can live with a holy God forever. I am living good news. I was crucified with Christ and the old me died. Now I live for Jesus and someday I will be raised from the dead to live in God’s presence forever.

Living good news. That is what we Christians are. If you want good news in your life, if you want to be living good news … I can help you. I can connect you with friends who will assist you in sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Together. Forever.

Good news has to make a difference in my life. Otherwise, it is just interesting news.
Write me at steve@hopeforlife.org or join the blog discussion at www.hopeforlife.org.


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