have you heard?

October 19, 2003

it's interesting to observe how people respond to something 'noteworthy'. i found out several days ago that shane & shane were coming to canada (montreal, quebec) on june 5th from the good ol' people on the stripey boards. knowing this, i tell two people, silas and justin (the craziest shane fans other than myself) about it since montreal really isn't that far away. and so that was that. a few days passed on and today, i noticed that comments about shane and shane's visit were made on two journals that i read often (ms. amanda w. and ms. rachel c.).

i wonder just how many people have heard about this event since that day. who knows? who's excited about it? who wants to go? it seems to be spreading like a wildfire.

we love to tell people about good news. we love to tell people about exciting events or things that are happening in our lives or around us. it's human nature. when something good happens, it's a natural response to tell someone else about it. as children, when we get a sticker for an assignment or test, we show our parents. as teenagers, when we do well at something, we might share that with our friends and family. as young adults, the same holds true. we gravitate to this mentality of sharing goodness with people. i remember when i was accepted into the york/sheridan program, i immediately told my family and friends. i couldn't contain the joy i had and i wanted to share it with others. if i hear a gorgeous new song, i tell people about it. if i hear a really amazing message, i tell people about it. and the thing is, i'm not worried about what people may think about me when i tell them. i just want to share it with them.

why is it, then, do we keep the greatest news of all to ourselves? why do we hoard it? why are we so afraid of what people may think about us when we tell them? how is it different from any other good news that we share? there is one difference. it's life changing. it's radical. it's revolutionary. it's eternal. it's love. and yet, for some reason, knowing all of this, we fail royally at letting people know. we focus too much on ourselves and what people may think about us afterwards, and that hinders us. it becomes a barrier that we stumble over. we don't want to step on other people's toes by saying the wrong thing. the truth of the matter is, we are just too caught up with ourselves more often than not or we simply do not care enough to tell people.

if we could wrap our hearts around this concept of sharing good news with people, the Gospel would reach more hearts that need to hear it. and the fact is, we don't need to learn how to share good news with people. we're already experts at that. what we do need to learn, is how to share the RIGHT kind of news to people. the life-changing news. the wonderful news about Jesus Christ and His wondrous sacrifice for us. and if we don't know how to do that, then we need to ask our Father to help us, to fall so passionately in love with Him, that He's the only thing we think about all day long, and He's the only one we speak about all day long.

four men in the book of second kings had the right idea, "then they said to each other, "we're not doing right. this is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. if we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." (2 kings 7:9 [NIV])

this needs to be our goal, that "all over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth" (colossians 1:6 [NIV])

have you heard? Jesus, the Savior of the world is alive and well and He loves everybody on planet earth. no matter what you've done or where you are, it doesn't matter. He loves you and cares for you. And He wants nothing more, than to be in a loving relationship with you.

Posted by Leo Chan at October 19, 2003 2:09 PM