How are you sharing the Good News?
Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!” (NLT). This verse talks about how wonderful it is to be the person who carries good news to people who need to hear it. Messengers with good news have beautiful feet. They have happy feet.
Understanding that the gospel is good news should help us all be a little more cheerful, a little nicer to hang out with. Evangelism is nothing more than sharing good news with people. Some of us are passionate about telling people about Jesus, but we freak them out because we never learned how to smile. We dangle them over hell yet wonder why they don’t want anything to do with our gospel. If you say you preach the gospel but there is no great joy, I’d say there is a problem with your gospel.
Some of us have a little voice inside us asking, So, when are you going to lead your friend to Jesus? He needs to get saved! Here’s a tip: Jesus is really good at saving people. We’re not.
Our approach reminds me of that profound, cinematic masterpiece Nacho Libre. NACHO: “I’m a little concerned right now about your salvation and stuff. How come you have not been baptized?”
ESQUELETO: “Because I never got around to it, OK? I don’t know why you always have to be judging me because I only believe in science.”
And we sneak up behind them, dunk their heads in a bowl, and feel better about ourselves. We did our religious duty. But they haven’t changed. They haven’t met Jesus. They haven’t met joy.
I’m not saying we should never tell people about Jesus. Actually, I’m convinced that when we grasp God’s goodness, when we’re full of the joy of His salvation, we won’t be able to keep our mouths shut. We’ll tell them about Jesus because He’s changed our lives. We’ll tell them about Jesus out of genuine love and compassion, because we know that without Jesus we’d be in the same boat, and we want them to experience the happiness we’ve found. That’s way more appealing to people than force-feeding them salvation because we feel guilty about their eternal destinies.
