Joy to the WorldSample

Good News

I’m a wife and mother of two. These days I don’t have to set alarms for myself because my children will wake at the crack of dawn and sometimes at all hours of the night. It's in those hours when I'm trying to keep my sanity while simultaneously lulling one of my little ones back to peaceful sleep that I'll pass the time by reading the news.This, I highly recommend you do not do. Back when I was single, I could read tragic news about the world and still be able to go about my day with some sense of optimism. Now that I have a precious family of my own, reading of wars and the effects thereof on cities and local towns with regular families with little ones just like my own... well, now it hits differently.

It’s nearly impossible to open up your phone or turn on the TV and not feel the undercurrent of fear, hate, and disregard human beings can have for one another. Though we desperately desire the opposite. Every major headline brings yet another war or a socially unstable climate. In this Christmas season if I’m not careful I can get carried away by the dreadful news and forget about the Good News that came one starry night long ago.

This "God of the Hebrews" came to write a new story.

He came in the form of a baby boy - humble, pure, and with no blemish. He came to live a life of perfect, other-centered love. The kind of love that forgives. The kind of love that lays down its life for its enemies. The kind of love that casts out fear. He came to rewrite what it means to be human. In this story, the Bible calls Jesus the “second Adam”. For the first Adam lost our humanity but Jesus came to redeem and restore it by being EVERYTHING that this weary world is not.

There is no hate in Jesus. He is the antithesis of selfishness. The epitome of goodness. The opus magnus of the plan of salvation. HE IS THE GOOD NEWS!

In this advent season, let's take in and commune with the glorious light that can snuff out the darkness and bring peace to our weary souls. Let's take in the Good News.

Written by Charmaine Wells from Thrive Worship