Good News for Everyone
Picture, for a moment, a normal day of your life. Everything is pretty typical; nothing out of the ordinary. Then, imagine that out of nowhere, light shines down all around you. It’s so bright and warm, you can’t see anything except … an angel? An angel is talking to you!
That’s precisely what happened to a group of shepherds near Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. And here’s what the angel said:
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:10)
It’s no surprise the angel opens with, “Don’t be afraid.” The shepherds whom the angel appeared to must have been terrified! How startling to be in the middle of a normal day taking care of your flock and have something so unexpected happen! And not only unexpected—something that absolutely changed the course of history.
The angel also knew what the shepherds did not: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” The Messiah all of Israel had been waiting for, the one whom the prophets had foretold of, had been born. He had come. Nothing in the world could have been better news or a cause for greater joy than this!
And of all the people who could have been first to know, it was these shepherds. In Israel at that time, shepherds were everyday people. They weren’t powerful, influential, or wealthy. And yet God picked these everyday people to be the first to hear this good news. The Kingdom of God is not just for those people society holds in high regard. It is for everyone. It is for all of us.
Today, pay attention to how God may be speaking to you. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, or where you’re going. This good news is for you!
The Mission of God
All of our lives are spent on something.
Most people spend their days focused on growing a family, building a career, or amassing possessions. While none of those things are necessarily wrong, they can become distractions from our ultimate goal in life.
In the book of Acts, we see Paul’s transformation in Christ. As a result of meeting Jesus and being changed by His grace, Paul spends the rest of his life preaching the good news of Jesus.
For Paul, God’s grace and salvation were so great that nothing on this earth could compare to doing His work.
Paul said that nothing in his life mattered as much as telling others about God’s grace. His goal in life was to finish his own race well by faithfully accomplishing as much of the mission of God as possible:
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."
Acts 20:24 NIV
The mission of ...