GOOD NEWS!

2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21; Romans 15:1-22; Psalm 25:1-15; Proverbs 20:13-15

“In all that he did in the service of the Temple of God and in his efforts to follow God’s laws and commands, Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. As a result, he was very successful.”

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them.”

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”

“Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.”

Today is a day for good news. But then, so is every day. There is just no reason to buy into gloom and doom or the idea that our best days are behind us. We have a much more positive story than that to share with the world. We have a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe, and He cares for us and about us. We are freed from guilt, since the penalty for our sins has been paid in full by Jesus. We are never alone, because the Holy Spirit lives within us. We are promised what we need and given the power to be overcomers of the world. So, why do we still allow ourselves to feel blue? My bet is it’s because we forget who and Whose we are in the daily grind of life. We get to thinking that our happiness depends solely on us, and that alone is enough to put many of us into a real funk. We are only human, after all. No one can live in euphoria all the time. It’s only natural that some days be better than others. But what Christ calls us to is a life where we can never fall so far that we fall out of His ability and willingness to reach us and to share His joy with us.

Hezekiah was a success for several reasons. Initially, he lived to serve the Lord. What he did, he did for God, first, last and in the middle. He not only followed the Lord’s laws and commands but looked for opportunities to seek Him out in the ordinariness of everyday life. In other words, Hezekiah was creative as well as obedient. He sought God wholeheartedly, not just when it was convenient or expected, but all the time! As a result, both he and his people were happier and more prosperous than they had been in a long time. The bottom line is that he shared his joy with others.

Paul lived to put others first. His first thoughts were always centered on his brothers and sisters in the faith. The blessings he desired he first prayed for others. Confident hope comes through the power of the Holy Spirit, and Paul was determined to introduce as many as possible to that saving relationship. Like Hezekiah, Paul was all about sharing joy.

We ought to adopt that same mission. No one can always be happy, because happiness depends too much on external circumstances. But joy is another thing entirely. Joy does not depend on circumstances but on our relationship with, and our reliance on, the Holy Spirit. When we feel down or upset, it usually is a pretty safe bet that we are looking at the wrong thing. When we feel lost, we are not likely to be following the right guide. There’s no reason we cannot be filled with joy in spite of our circumstances. We just have to keep letting the Spirit work on us, in us and through us. Joy simply requires focus on One greater, stronger and holier than we are. Christ came to earth to reach out to us because we could not reach high enough to grasp Him on our own. Because He did so, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Rejoice! Give thanks! Share the Good News! Abundant life is not something we have to wait for. Joy is possible in any circumstance. Our opportunity to experience it is right in front of us, and in us, already.

Christ wants to lead us not only to Him, but to the eternal joy the Holy Spirit is just waiting to share with us. All we have to do is be obedient to His plan for our lives and stop working so hard to make our own way in the world. God knows the best way for us, and He created us to uniquely fit His plan for our lives. Let’s quit swimming against the current of His love and just decide to be who He created us to be. We need be no more. Besides, we can never be fulfilled if we try to do anything else.