The God of Good News

I was listening to a sermon recently where the pastor said, “he preaches The Gospel to himself daily.” I have to confess that I really didn’t hear the rest of the message because the truth of that statement captured my undivided attention! What an interesting thought that a minister of The Gospel would preach The Gospel to himself everyday! Presuming that he is already a Believer and having dedicated his life to spreading The Gospel, wouldn’t it seem redundant to, “preach it to himself daily?”

The word “Gospel,” as defined in Romans 1:16, means good news or glad tidings. The Good News that the Apostle Paul is referring to in that verse is the foundation of Christian belief. The belief that God solved the sin problem through the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and He invites us to respond to His loving solution with faith and obedience; thereby, bringing salvation and the hope of God’s coming Kingdom! 

Simply put:

The problem = Humanity is separated from a Holy God by sin

The solution = Jesus

The result = Salvation & Hope

So, the next day I got up and the first thing I did was preach The Gospel to myself. As I meditated on its many beautiful truths - it hit me -  it’s the essence of The Gospel that we need everyday …….. it is Good News! But not just any good news, we need God’s Good News! So, I began to think about what the Good News is beyond the Salvation message. Everything that God does and says is permeated by His essence and it’s His Good News that fills us with faith, hope, love, joy and peace! 

This very season, when we celebrate the birth of our Savior, was announced in the heavens by angels declaring that they had some Good News from God:

“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping 

watch over their flock at night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and 

the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And so the 

angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you GOOD NEWS of great joy 

which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you 

a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby 

wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a 

multitude of the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the 

highest, and on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.” Luke 2:8-13

In the Bible there are 20 major names and over 600 titles that reveal God’s multi-faceted nature and, yet, I had not really spent much time considering that He is also the God of Good News. 

“now may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that 

 you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!”  Rom 15:13

The God of Hope! What a beautiful way to think about Him as we anticipate His words and messages to us. A thorough reading of the Bible will confirm that even when we are getting the bad news about the consequences of disobedience and sin, it also incudes the Good News of God’s redemptive plans and His loving solutions for our lives. 

Unfortunately, when we are burdened by anxiety, insecurities, and fear we end up seeking God expecting His critique, criticism, and judgment for ourselves and others; we only anticipate bad news. Immaturity and counterfeit religious practices/mindsets can cause us to confuse suspicion with discernment and we can lose our way becoming messengers of bad news for ourselves and others. 

If you are a person living on this earth then chances are you have problems. Our problems can be personal, relational, financial, our health, or the heaviness of grief and loss. Often, these problems can seem unbearably heavy or unsolvable so we call these “God Problems” because He is the only one that can solve them. When we experience heartbreak, hardships or injustice we need His Good News as much as we did at the moment of our Salvation. It is a great comfort to know “that His plans for us are to give us hope and a future.”  Hope is confident expectation in the character of God! 

He is the God of Good News and He is ready to offer His loving solutions to anybody and everybody! In Biblical times, shepherds were not highly regarded and yet God announced his Good News to them first! The Magi (a priestly class of astrologers from modern day Iran, Iraq, Arabia and India) were also alerted by signs in the heavens and they came to celebrate the Good News!

On the eve of Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, let’s remind ourselves that the “God of Hope wants us to abound in hope.”  Let us become messengers of Hope and Good News for ourselves and everyone we meet!