THEY SAY THAT, “GOOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST,” and I say, “Bad news just never leaves.” Too often all we hear is the bad news. Wars, rumors of wars, hurricanes, earthquakes, famine, floods, genocide, and the list goes on. Add to that list our own personal “bad news stories” and our world can get downright depressing. Bring on the Prozac!
I think we need to hear some good news, don’t you? It’s time to hear that there is both rhyme and reason to the world in which we live. That the story that has been written, and is in the process of being written, has an Author whose heart’s desire is for our good.
We can read this story, in greatest detail in the pages of our Bible. It is a story of love given, rejected, and given again. It is a story of broken plans and renewed hope. It is a story of pain and healing, of forsaken-ness and forgiveness. It is the story of God’s unending love for His crea-tion, and the unfathomable lengths he went to in order to demonstrate that love to us. It is a story of good news.
In this week’s passage from Acts 13, we encounter the Apostle Paul setting out upon his missionary journey to bring the good news to his world. As he encounters people in his travels he relates to them, in con-cise form, the redemptive story of God’s love. It is a story that always bears repeating. It is a story that has been told over and over throughout the ages. It is a story that is tirelessly eternal, and intensely personal.
This past week I put it to the participants of my blog (pastorsstudy. blogspot.com) to try their hand at communicating God’s story (His-Story) as the Apostle did. A couple of them took up the challenge and did so with very good results. I commend their writings to you, and would en-courage you to try your hand at ‘writing the story,” it’s a good process.
Yes, there IS good news in the world, and as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be the communicators of that good news, whether we write it, speak it, sing it, paint it, or dance it, we are to live it for the world to “read.”