“You Can’t Hear Good News Too Often!”
There was some sort of threat the other morning against the campus of my university. I teach online only, but I still care very much about what goes on at our campuses. So, I sent an email to a couple of people I know on campus, to let them know that I was praying for them. My supervisor fired back an email in which he told me something I had already heard: The authorities had already investigated and given the all-clear signal. I responded,
“Dear Anthony,
That’s great news! I had received the email sounding the all-clear, but I am glad to hear it from you as well. You can’t hear good news too often!” And then I added, “Hey, that sounds like a good title for an upcoming post on my website!”
And it really is a good title and a good saying, too. Why? Because you can’t hear good news too often!
When my wife says she loves me, that is good news. I don’t get bored when she says that. When a friend prays for me over the phone or texts me to let me know that he’s thinking of me, that’s good news! Even when someone says that dinner is ready, that is good news.
The Greek word that is translated “gospel” or “good news” is all over the place in the New Testament. In fact, it occurs some 73 times in the New Testament. The first four books of the New Testament are called “the Gospels” for good reason.
And indeed, the coming of Jesus into the world was and is good news. At least, there are many of us who feel that way. I am among that group. That God, the creator of the universe, would become one of us, teach, do miracles, forgive people (which is the greatest miracle of all), would die for the sins of the whole world, and be raised from the dead—that is really good news. And you can’t hear good news too often!
A twelve-step participant said the other day at an online meeting, “We do not simply carry the message to other addicts. We are the message.” Yes indeed!
Not all of those who name the name of Jesus Christ are good news, and none of us is good news all the time. But that is what we are called to be: good news. And you can’t hear—or see—good news too often!
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