FEBRUARY 2019

    I was at the conference office for a meeting last week.  As the group I am a part of was starting, one of the guys got out his laptop computer and was trying to connect with the wi-fi.  He couldn’t remember what the password was, he thought is was john 3:16, but after he tried it…no luck.  Someone else in the group was going upstairs so they said they would see what it was.  When they came back down they said, “you were close, it has a capital J and an exclamation point on the end.”  To which the guy replied, “Oh yeah, I forgot to be excited about it.”  I had a good laugh with that one.  

    As I have thought about this interaction, I have started to wonder if I ever do the same thing?  Not forget a wi-fi password, but forgotten to get excited about the truth of John 3:16?   “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

    When the angel appears to Mary in Luke 2, the angel says, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”  “Good news of great joy,” that seems like it deserves an exclamation point.  The “good news.”  It is connected with the Kingdom – the good news of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:15, Luke 4:43, Luke 8:1, Luke 16:16, Acts 8:12).  It is called the good news of God (Mark 1:14).  It is what is preached to the poor (Matthew 11:5, Luke 4:18, Luke 7:22).  It is about Jesus, Him being Lord and the resurrection (Acts 5:42, 8:35, 10:36, 11:20, 17:18).  What we also know that one of those things that also makes it good news is that it is for everybody (Mark 16:15, Luke 2:10).  And these are just the places where the word “good news” is used.  Is the truth of the gospel, the saving work of Christ, the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, the nature and heart of God not also good news?  So, I ask, do we forget how exciting it is?

    What part of the good news that when you first heard it made your heart rejoice, but now still knowing it is truth, doesn’t do the same thing in you?  We can become cynical, we can become discouraged, we can become weary, and I think we have forgotten how amazingly exciting it is.  Has what God did, what the Lord offered become so ordinary in our thoughts that we have forgotten how extraordinary it truly is?
 
    I pray that you see and hear it anew again.  That it makes your heart race again.  That is causes you to smile and sing praises.  I pray that as you hear the stories of others, share in their lives, you won’t be discouraged but encouraged and excited about what God has done and still wants to do in each life.  The good news is for all.

     For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Don’t forget to be excited about it.

​Because of Him,
Lynn