Good News: In a World Filled with Bad News

In 1983 Anne Murray lamented the barrage of bad news in our society. She highlighted fighting in the Middle East, the bad economy, a local murder, a hostage situation and a robbery. She called for something more than bad news, she wanted reports of good news. She dreamed of reports of Ireland children playing in the streets, people working together, or how the environment was cleaned up. The song resonated with the public, not only going number one, but earning her a Grammy.

Thirty plus years later, her lament is still heard loud and clear. In some ways it’s worse than when the song was released. The 24 hour news cycle, filled with talking heads, have added to the despondency. Mass shootings have citizens walking in fear, or at least created a more fearful awareness of our surroundings. Washington Politics have further divided the American public, creating more suspicion and less trust. We’re desperate for some real good news.

When Jesus stepped onto the stage to begin his ministry, he called people to the good news of God’s kingdom (Mk. 1:14). Did you hear that? Jesus is about good news! The decisive moment God acts on behalf of mankind had come. Salvation was living among them. It was time to turn tone deaf on all the bad news.

Jesus brought good news when the demons met their match. At the time the land was a playground for the demonic world, and they played havoc with people’s lives. But Jesus was a force of good to be reckoned with, and they were unable to stand before him.

Jesus brought good news when the curtain was torn from top to bottom. Everything that separated mankind from God was removed by Jesus. The sin, the guilt and the shame were all erased. When Jesus hung out with the “sinners,” he was not endorsing a lifestyle, he was endorsing life. When Jesus forgave sin, he was showing his salvation purpose: he came to save not to condemn.

Jesus brought good news when he created unity among a dis-unified world. The barriers we tend to erect like status, race, education level, school loyalty, ideology, national loyalty, etc. are irrelevant to Jesus. Instead of looking for a reason to divide, we’re given permission to seek a reason to unite.

Jesus brought good news to the marginalized, the abandoned and the lonely. The woman at the well. Zacchaeus. The woman caught in adultery.  Blind Bartimaeus. The children. The woman anointing Jesus. Levi. All were living on the fringes of society, but welcomed and loved by the Savior. They found a place to belong in Jesus.

Jesus brought good news, but we tend to gravitate to the bad news. We take gospel and turn it into anything but gospel. Jesus instill confidence while we pervert it into fear, fear of failure and fear of hell. Jesus offers a light yoke, but we’ve managed to make it into a heavy burden. We nick-pic the church, its ministries and its members without any self-reflection. At the end of the day we wonder why the church struggles to grow or even maintain a consistent attendance. Maybe what we need to do is return to focusing on the hope of good news.

By focusing on the good news in our churches, we might not write a Grammy award song, but the song we sing will be a song worth singing.  

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorifi

News: Finding Good Amidst So Much Bad

I opened my newsfeed on FaceBook and found an article about a high school teen in Washington DC provoking a response to a Native American elder. The teen was wearing a red MAGA hat and the Native American beating a drum was a Vietnam Vet. The outcry on social media was loud. Then another story broke where the Native American elder was the one who provoked the teen and the outcry against him was just as loud. If the story didn’t contain enough controversy, another story revealed that a black hate group was taunting the teens and the Native American elder claimed to be running interference between the two groups. And the rage on social medial started coming to a boiling point. Amidst so much bad, where can you find any good?

I opened a magazine to read about developments in our government. The shutdown has gone on longer than any previous shutdowns, with both parties digging in their heels deeper and deeper, finding an end in sight seems to be a work in vanity. With the positions clearly marked out, it’s nothing more than a power struggle and the citizens are the collateral damage. As the shutdown continues some 800,000 federal workers have missed two paychecks and most are living paycheck-to-paycheck. The ripple effect of the shutdown is predicted to have strong negative effects on our economy and making our nation vulnerable to outsiders. Amidst so much bad, where can you find any good?

I turned onto the news and witnessed a disturbing video showing the Governor of New York signing an abortion bill into law. New York now protects women’s rights to opt for an abortion into the third trimester so long as “the woman’s life was in danger” or if “the (baby) could not survive outside the womb.” When the bill was officially signed, the legislators erupted into a raucous applause. The sad irony is that while signing this aggressive abortion bill into law, New York has suspended Capital Punishment since 2004 because it was viewed as unconstitutional (or immoral?). Amidst so much bad, where can you find any good?

I opened my bible and started to read. The Apostle John had been banished to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea (part of the larger Mediterranean Sea), just west of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). The churches in the region were facing two foes standing against them. While a secondary conflict came from local Jewish Synagogues, their primary source of conflict originated from persecution by the Roman Empire. If written during the time of Domitian’s reign (A.D. 81-96), the church was seeing unprecedented attacks while the Domitian initiated emperor worship. Loyalty to the State or to Jesus was the line in the sand and it looked like God was doing nothing about it.

God’s been accused of slacking his duties before. Job claimed he could run the universe better than God could. Habakkuk wondered why God had done nothing about Israel’s continued lack of justice. When God said he was raising up Babylon to punish Israel, Habakkuk couldn’t believe it. While Israel was bad, Babylon was worse; how could God do that? Finally, when the disciples were caught in a storm at sea, Jesus was sleeping on the job.

So John witnesses a revelation from God. As he’s invited into the heavenly realm he sees God firmly established on his throne. Twenty-four elders were sitting on twenty-four thrones which surrounded God’s throne. Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder burst from the throne. Before the throne was sea, so still it looked like glass and clear as crystal. Four living creatures sang day and night of God’s holiness. Then the elders bowed in reverence to God laying their crowns before him (Rev. 4).

Here is where you find the good amidst so much bad. For God to remain on his throne means he has not been removed and his enemies cannot threaten him. God will lead John to realize that judgment will come to those who have threatened, persecuted and bullied his people; that justice will be swift and sure. In other words, God’s got this and we need to stop worrying or panicking. As Habakkuk came to realize, we (i.e. the righteous) live by faith (Hab. 2:4) not by fear, and we believe that “the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent before him” (Hab. 2:20).

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)