IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS!

This adage has a companion saying: No News is Good News. Why do these phrases have such familiarity? Our media, the broadcasts and newspapers, know what sells and gets our attention: if it is bad (people hurt) or scandalous (people caught in sin- Let’s call it what it is) then that becomes the headline, the lead story. Today, Alec Worrell will be recognized for his Boy Scout work as a “Joyful Servant.” This would not be a lead story in the Times-News. Maybe the second page. But such Good News needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

Go home today and read 2 Samuel 18. After the final battle between the forces of David and his son Absalom, two men are sent, separately, to tell David that Absalom is dead (an event catastrophic to the very wish and hope of David.) When the runners are coming, David says, “The first man is Ahimahaz. He will bring Good News.” Some are known for their bringing the Good News! Some are like Li’l Abner’s Joe Bflsk. They always come with clouds and rain.

You want the Good News or Bad News first? Let’s take the Bad News first. YOU AND I ARE SINNERS! Sinful! Guilty! “There is no one righteous! No! Not one!” Romans 3:10, 23. We cannot do enough good deeds to pay for our sins or do the right thing all the time in every way. Before a just and holy God we are condemned by our sin! That’s the Bad News.

Now the GOOD NEWS- the Gospel! Paul asks, “Who shall deliver us from this [spiritual death?] Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Romans 7:24; I Corinthians 15:57. No wonder John Newton called it Amazing Grace –that Jesus’ great sacrifice would take away our sin, our guilt, keep on cleansing us, and give us eternal life! No wonder it is called the Gospel- the Good News!

Now that you and I have been forgiven through our faith in Christ, what kind of a messenger are we? Do we bring the Good News or Bad News? Are we Joe Bflsk or Ahimahaz?

—Hugh Price, Jr.