We had a lot of bad news in 2020, and as human beings, we can only take so much bad news. The Gospel means Good News. We know the good news story in scripture – when Christ came to the earth. The good news story unfolds in Luke chapter 2 as Christ is born. “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’” (Luke 2:8-10 NASB).
Scripture is our Good News. It’s so important for us as followers of Christ, when we observe so much bad news, that we turn to God’s Word because scripture brings us Good News.
It’s time to start writing better headlines for our lives. Instead of having a headline that says, Another bad day during COVID 19, we need to rewrite the headline to read: Another day of living intentionally in Christ.
Every news story has six parts – the five W’s plus the H. When a news story is written, the focus should be the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how. The Good News stories in scripture contain all six of these things.
Look at this powerful passage in 1st Corinthians 15, “Moreover, brother, I declare to you the gospel.” That’s the what – the headline. “… which I preach to you, which also you received and which you stand by which also you are saved.” That’s the why of the gospel. Why is the gospel Good News? Because the Good News is that we’ve been saved.
The who is, “If you hold fast that word, which I preach to you, unless you believe in vain, for I delivered to you first of all that which I also received that Christ” (1st Corinthians 15:1-3).
Our days pass quickly. The psalmist encourages us to “number our days that we may gain a heart after wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 NIV). If you do the math, if we live to be around 75 years, that’s about 27,000 days. We’re so busy with things going on today – worries, fears, concerns, children or projects. We should be able to end each day with a look back and say, “Hey, I did a lot of things today, but this is the one thing that’s going to make a real difference in my life and the lives of those around me.” It may be something you’re already doing.
Sometimes you look back on your day and have no clue what you did or why you did it, and if you only get 27,000 days, you should want to cherish them. I know I’ve wasted a lot of days. So, every day you need to do one thing daily that can change your life. Start rewriting your Good News story by making sure to have a what, a who, a when, a where, a why and a how. And check out Part 2 of this blog here.
