The Good News Becomes The Bad News

Through the years, Christians have been rejoicing in the "Good News". "That's what the Gospel is all about", they say.

That's true. The good news is that God loves us, and that He has sent Christ into the world to reconcile the world to Himself. But along with that comes the fact that He has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.

This gospel says that we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord, and that I must be reconciled to them. But I don't want to claim some of my neighbors as part of my family. I don't want to love folks whose jobs cut into my pay check. I don't want to accept freaks who paint their hair and wear rings and jewels in every part of their body. I don't like people who talk differently than I do. I have no interest in being friends with people of different color. I just want to live my own life, and let the rest of the world go by.

But here is the bad news!....Christ calls me into a caring and reconciling relationship. I have to try to learn to love even those who are hard to love. I must try to reach out to people who are different, and folks who look at life in a different way than I. I don't have to agree with them,
But I have to try to love them.

Woe is me! There goes my complacency. If Jesus was willing to live and die for me...then the least I can do is try to live for Him. That's the good news for today...but sometimes, I must confess, it puts me to the test.