Good news doesn't come often enough. When it does, it is refreshing, hope-filled, and welcomed. It just goes to show that the verses we associate with the Christmas story are NOT just for Christmas, but for the whole year long… just like those favorite Christmas carols, it’s OK to sing them even in July (and I often do).
Luke 2:10 as you may likely already know it states, “But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (NIV) We often talk about the first things out of an angel’s mouth (at least when speaking to us humans) is “Fear not” or “Be not afraid”… because an angel, a being that serves daily in the presence of God, causes us to fear. Unfortunately, in our world, Christians are getting that same kind of reputation (and it is not for being angels)… but for causing other people to fear, not us personally, but what we represent. We bring the Good News… a message of love, joy, peace, and eternal life. With all of that, you would wonder why on earth that would cause people to fear… but it is not the Gospel they fear, but the fact that they would need to change… to repent… to repay… to seek others forgiveness… to confess their sins… to come clean. It is just easier to hide in the darkness than it is to come into the light. So, when people seem to reject you because of your faith or your words about Jesus, it is just what they did to Jesus when he was here on earth. They feared him so much, that the wisest of them, the Jewish leaders, had him killed, not because he would change the whole world BUT because he would change THEIR world. The people who have heard the Good News from those angels do have great joy (while for some of us it doesn’t always show through every day)… and it is a joy worth sharing. I sometimes accuse my daughter of being a great Apple iPod/ iTouch/ iPhone sales person, as she is telling others what it can do, she does it with great excitement… amazing sounds, colors, applications, so cool, etc. I don’t know how many went out and bought them just because of that excitement... and that it’s easy enough for a four-year old to use it (really). While for many of us, the “Good News” at times seems like the Old News as we have heard it for 10, 30, 50 years or more… but it is not about us. For the rest of the world out there, this is not just Good News, it is the Best News they will ever hear. Let us not be so content that we know it that we forget or neglect to share it with others… tell them ‘a little angel told you so’…. From Luke 2:10, he did!
