When Good News Gets Old
Dear EBC Family,
The relevance of news headlines have never come and gone as fast as they do today. What is catching our attention one day is quickly forgotten about and dismissed days or hours later as new headlines are published. In a digitally saturated world, it can be overwhelming to navigate the tsunami of information and what voices to listen to. We can feel lost in knowing reality, feel discouraged with the unending evil, and angry with those who think differently than us.
When Jesus entered the scene as God in human flesh, he came to invade the news. Everything he communicated and accomplished was literally titled the “good news” in contrast with what the rest of the world had to offer. But in a world of constant change, how is a news headline from 2000 years ago supposed to be relevant today?
Yesterday, I took a drive with my wife, Cana, and we began to talk about some of the things the Lord had been teaching us recently. However, instead of talking about something brand new we had learned, or some new insight on scripture that had stuck out to us recently, we just talked for awhile about God’s grace. We talked about how great God is, and how there is nothing that can contain Him. He loves us and finds delight in us although we aren’t very impressive (Zeph 3:17). His kindness is what leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4), and we are invited into the intimate relationship He has with Himself in the Trinity. These are truths we have probably heard a thousand times, and I confess, there are moments when they sound old to me. But by God’s grace and the work of His Spirit, Cana and I were able to take some time to freshly marvel in His grace and love for us. There is nothing more my spirit needed than those simple truths.
When Jesus was born, the angels declared to a group of shepherds living under Roman occupation, without a cool job promotion in the near future, and who’s families would soon have their newborn children killed by Herod, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…” Somehow, the simple presence of the promised Messiah was going to transcend and shatter every news headline that had ever been shared. And it wasn’t just for the shepherds. It was for us too!
The gospel message is just as relevant today as the night Jesus was born, the morning He rose from the grave, and the day He will return in victory! This week Jesus wants us to experience life, be freed from sin, healed of shame, live in unity with His Spirit, receive His lavished grace, mourn evil with hope, perceive our world with Truth, live in unity with His church, know God intimately, celebrate victory over death, and be a shining beacon of light to every nation on earth.
What our world needs most are the basic truths His people have been proclaiming for generations: that Jesus is our Savior and King, and He is coming back soon! These basic words can feel ordinary and redundant, but they are just as real today as they have ever been. The news of Jesus may feel old to some, but if time has shown us anything, it’s that Jesus is truly the only answer to our broken world. I pray that the words of Jesus are the ones that will be our guide for all of us this week.
Jacob Abrahamson
Youth Pastor