Good news {Do you need some good news in your life?}

Good news.  Have you heard any good news lately?  News stories are everywhere you turn.  Some are heartwarming while others are heart wrenching.  Lately I have mostly been hearing the heart wrenching ones.  Sometimes I dread turning on the news channel because I know I will hear more than I can take of death, destruction, and despair from around the world to right here in our communities in our state.  This kind of news instills fear, anxiety and alarm in people.  Aren’t you ready for some good news?  News that brings peace, calmness, security, happiness, assurance, and confidence?

 Well I have some good news for you! 

You see this good news is simple but I will admit some people believe it to be complicated; however, I have come to realize that the good news itself is not what is complicated but rather complicated for some to accept the good news.  

 So what is this good news?  Simply put, the good news is the message of the cross.  The cross which is truly a crossroad where you come to a crucial place where a decision must be made.  The decision to listen to the full message of the cross and accept it or reject it.   To some it is God’s saving power.  To others it is complete foolishness.  

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

The cross symbolizes the sins of this world.  The sins of you and me.  This old rugged cross carried on the back of a man, Jesus. The very reason He came to this earth… to rid me of the weight of my sin, to rid you of the weight of your sin.  He carried my sins, your sins and endured ridicule, mockery, and severe abuse.  But why?  Because of His great love for me.  Because of His great love for you!   He was then nailed to this cross.  Pierced for my wrongdoings.  Pierced for your wrongdoings.  Died for me and died for you.  But the best part of this good news is He conquered death.  He rose to life! The grave could not hold him back.  The authority is His.  The power to break me from the grip of the enemy. The power to break you from the grip of the enemy.    

“Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53

The message of the cross is more than a story to just hear.  The message of the cross is an invitation to not only hear what one man did for mankind but it’s a personal invitation to believe and accept this one man Jesus carried the sins of the world on his shoulders for you and me.  We accept His invitation not because we earned it or deserve it.  We accept it because we are invited. 

We all end up at this crucial intersection in life.  You are invited to accept and believe the Good News.  Will you accept it or reject it?
 

PRAYER
Lord, here I am at the crossroads of knowing I need to accept this invitation but struggling to come to You.  I am desperate for some good news.  My life is a mess.  I have made wrong choices.  I choose this day to accept this Good News for me.  Forgive me of my sins.  I believe You carried my sins on the cross.  I believe You died for me and rose to life and now I am free from my past.  I am forgiven of all my wrongdoings.  From this day forward I am Yours and You are my Savior, my Lord.  Thank You for what You did for me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.