Good News

Have you ever thought about the fact that the word gospel actually means good news?? How many people in this world actually look at the gospel and think of it as that - good news? Do you? I read this fabulous book a few months ago that totally opened up my eyes to some missing links in the version of Christianity that many believers live out today. In the words of James Choung;

"If people only needed to accept this truth to be saved, then could a Christian go to heaven believing in Jesus yet hating Arabs? Could Christians accept what Jesus had done for them and still buy large houses, drive
Benzes, jet-set to Monaco, and dine on prime filet and Dom Perignon while giving nothing to people who foraged in a garbage dump to put food on the table? If they could afford it, Western Christians tended to go for the good life. So would they go to heaven? Caleb suddenly heard the
voice of Martin Luther King Jr. thundering in his head, quoting Amos: "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

Where were these streams and rivers in the church? With the gospel of the bridge illustration, Christians didn't need to share their faith with others, stand up for the oppressed, become more like Jesus, love people of other cultures and ethnicities, take care of the environment or be concerned about the poor at all. If they just believed, they'd be in heaven, right? And they could still claim to have a relationship with Jesus. Everything else was just extra credit." (True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In, pg. 32)

So, I don't know the answers to the questions that James asks there. I don't know what happens to those of us who identify ourselves with Jesus but live totally unconcerned about the world around us. Its not my place to decide their fate. . .

But I do know that when Jesus was here on earth the phrase he repeated often when calling people to himself was, "Come, follow me." When we follow someone, we imitate them, right? And when we look at the way Jesus lived, we have to admit that most of the time our lives don't look the same (I know that I must admit that for myself, at least). His attention was usually focused on the poor, the hurting, and the outcast. . . He crossed barriers of race and gender to show love to the people who least expected to receive it. When we accept his death on the cross as payment for our sins, are we not to then pick up our own cross and follow after him? Caring for the same poor, hurting, outcast people that he so lavishly loved in his lifetime here?

The gospel is good news. As we live our daily lives the world around us should look at us and see that though they might not agree with what we believe, there is no arguing that Christians who live out the gospel as Jesus did bring hope, peace, comfort and joy to the hurting people in this world.

May you walk closely in the footsteps of your Savior today, and may someone - even if just one - see through your life a clearer picture of Jesus.