What makes good news good? Well, for one thing, it makes us happy, it is refreshing, it's heart-warming. Sometimes we hear the complaint that the news media only concentrate on the bad news. 'That's what sells newspapers,' it's said. But most news outlets today mix in a fair amount of good news, when they can find it, because people are genuinely interested in those stories, too.
What makes the gospel Good News? It's the joy of a relationship of love and trust in God made possible by Jesus Christ. Someone has said that evangelism is God's good news for our bad news. To experience acceptance, to discover a purpose, to recognize a kinship with one's neighbor, all this and more makes the good news good.
Sometimes, though, the good news doesn't come across as good. The secular person may be unable to hear the good news because the way we disciples are expressing it, or trying to live it, doesn't seem good. We can unwittingly cloud the good news with attitudes and actions that sound judgmental, hypocritical, insensitive and foolish. To be sure we share good news, we need to be sure it's good news to us, first of all.
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