Bad News: The world is a mess. All around us people suffer pain and loss. The world suffers because, in our freedom, we decide to oppose God’s good and wise rule. Sin and selfishness guide our behavior rather than love. It’s terrible. It’s painful. The fruit of sin poisons the world.
Good News: Our Father loved us so much and he wanted things set right so much that he sent his son, Jesus, to save us. Jesus has completed his saving work. We, his disciples, continue in our day and time to offer the people around us his salvation.
How do we respond when the conversation comes around to bad news? We can certainly agree that the news is bad. We can agree that the world is not the paradise it once was or that it could be. It’s just plain true, the world is a mess.
After we agree, we can offer the solution – Jesus. In Isaiah 40:9-11 we are told not to be afraid but to shout from the mountain top that our God wants to care for us as a shepherd tends his flock, that he wants to lead us to life. Our Father’s heart breaks at our suffering and he has given us the solution – if we will, in our freedom, come to him.
Bad news? Sure, there’s plenty to go around.
Good news? We have the word of life. We have the word for which the world yearns.
This season let’s offer Jesus as the solution to the world’s problems and not just wring our hands in agreement when someone points out that the world is a mess.
The challenge: the next time bad news is the topic offer the good news
