Spreading the news

Paul lays it out pretty clearly to us this morning: "He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth."

I love the comment, "Eventually the news is going to get out."

I'm reminded of the New York, New York phrase: "Start spreading the news..."

It is our job, it seems to me, to be like Paul, who sought to be like Jesus. It is our job to get the news to those who have never heard of God, and then it is our mission to explain how it works by simple faith and plain truth."

You tell me, what has a larger and more lasting impact than a Christian loving someone enough to give everything to make sure someone knows they are loved. Giving food. Showing up in areas of poverty. Standing on the promises of God. Can't that sort of love defeat even the miscreants who bomb stadiums?

Would you rather be a part of something loving than hating? Wouldn't you rather live abundantly than die by the hands of a suicide bomb?

Jesus offers himself, Paul wrote, in exchange for everyone held captive by sin. Why? To set them free.

There are people, good people otherwise, who are captives of sin, who can't shake it, can't get rid of it, can't do anything else.

But Jesus is the answer, for the world today.

That simple; that complex.

It's time to get out there, spread the news of Jesus, and on occasion use words. That simple; that complex.

On Easter Sunday, at least 65 were killed in a bomb blast in Pakistan. They were killed because of Jesus. They were killed because they chose love over hate, life over death. They were killed because someone else chose the latter.

Why? Lord, why?

It could be as simple as someone told this person lies, lies about Jesus, about Christian life, about their own religion and about their own set of values.

We need to spread the news. Then what happens, happens. Our job is to communicate love, and again, on occasions talk about Jesus.

It's the way, the truth, and the life. Our lives. His way. The truth.