Do you watch the news?  Do you listen to the news?  Do you read the news? I listen to the news, for a bit, but after that prefer to turn many a broadcaster off. David enjoys watching, or listening, far more than I do. He is open to hearing the many angles that a story is presented from, appreciating diversity of thought.  He has more patience than I to listen, and can more easily receive news which is discouraging.

I have heard some people say to me, regarding the news, “I need to turn it off” or, “It upsets me.”  Whether the front page of a paper, or front news on the television, news can cause interest and inspiration, but it can also cause discouragement and even depression. Any one of us must be wise as to how much news content our minds and hearts can absorb.  We need to know our limit and know that we can, turn it off.

I am not sure exactly when I heard it, but I think that perhaps it was during the early years of studying for ministry. I remember being told to do ministry with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.  It is important to be alert to what is occurring both locally, and in the world, but in response to that news we must understand what our living God and our faith say.  It is of utmost importance to know the truth God’s Word speaks. We need a heavenly perspective, a type of good news that lifts our spirits and turns our minds to, the “true and right, pure and lovely, excellent and praiseworthy” (Philippians 4:8). The truth is that daily our living faith, in Jesus, surrounds and fills us with good news.

N.T. Wright has said, “The good news that Jesus announced, like the good news that his first followers announced about him, was not a piece of advice, however good. It was about something that had happened, about something that would happen as a result, and about the new moment between those two, the moment in which people were in fact living, whether they realized it or not.” 

We are living between the ascension of Jesus, and his return, when all things will be set right and when all unwelcome news will be silenced forever. Not everyone realizes or accepts this truth, but regardless, it remains true. The birth (Christmas is coming), death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, is news that changes our present and eternal perspective, and experience. Our world is not the same because the kingdom of Jesus has been established both on this earth and into eternity.  Our lives are not the same.  We have a vision of something which is great and unbendable that does not discourage or depress but rather uplifts every day.  Where Jesus is, his kingdom is – ‘a kingdom of light and love’. He is not absent from our world, nor is he absent from our lives!  “He will rule…forever – no end, ever, to his kingdom” (Luke 1:33). Good News!

Today, as we listen to the news, let us attend to the Word of God with equal and increasing measure. Its pages are filled with incomparable good news! And, may we take this news with us wherever we go, for we have a story worth listening to and sharing. It is an untamed good news story!

943: We've A Story To Tell To The Nations

1. We’ve a story to tell to the nations
That shall turn their hearts to the right,
A story of truth and mercy,
A story of peace and light,
A story of peace and light.

For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
And the dawning to noonday bright,
And Christ's great Kingdom shall come to earth,
The Kingdom of love and light.

2. We've a song to be sung to the nations
That shall lift their hearts to the Lord,
A song that shall conquer evil
And shatter the spear and sword,
And shatter the spear and sword.

3. We've a message to give to the nations,
That the Lord who reigneth above
Hath sent us His Son to save us
And show us that God is love,
And show us that God is love.

4  We've a Savior to show to the nations
Who the path of sorrow hath trod,
That all of the world's great peoples
Might come to the truth of God,
Might come to the truth of God.

God of good news, our parched souls need your living, refreshing news, to trickle down deep, watering that which feels dry.  On any given day our hearts and minds can absorb earthly news that depletes our reservoir of your hope and joy. We ask you, the King of the Kingdom of light and love, to awaken us to your good news once again. By your Spirit, speak kingdom life and a kingdom perspective, found in your Word. Then, make us deliverers of your good news to others.  AMEN

With care and in prayer,