Do You Want to Hear the Bad News?

The very title of this blog may have brought you here. For some reason we gravitate toward bad news.  When given a chance between hearing good news or bad news first, most people choose the bad news first. Many people will admit that they go to car races to see the crashes. They turn on the television nightly news to watch the disasters. They love the news channels which depict the country going to hell in a hand basket.

Honestly, why would we want to receive bad news when there is much more good news going on? For every teen who takes a gun to school there are tens of thousands who would never do such a thing. For every day that presents a major disaster there are hundreds in which no disaster occurs. For every person who is unemployed, there are nine who are gainfully employed. Yet, the news focuses on the bad rather than the good.

Let's face it: Good news just doesn't sell very well.

A news cameraman for a tv station once told me the pattern of presenting the news. He said, "If it bleeds; it leads." The worst news comes first. The most graphic is sent to the front. This is how they grab those viewers who might channel surf beyond their station. And what would they be surfing to? Worse news!

Maybe this is why the gospel was preached as bad news for so long. Hell was at the forefront. God's love was diminished. Torment was magnified. People ran forward to keep from going to hell. They didn't see the good news of salvation which healed their relationship with God so that they could knew Him. All they knew of Him was His anger. They failed to see how good He is.

So, you may have come to this blog to hear the bad news but I want to disappoint you this time. The good news is that God loves you all the time. He seeks for you to know Him all the time. He wants you to come into His grace and mercy. He wants to see you love Him too. He wants to give you a purposeful life. He wants you to live with Him forever.

Unfortunately, I am afraid most people will click away from this blog as soon as they get to the "good news" part. Good news just isn't that appealing.

 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (NIV)
²¹ Test everything. Hold on to the good.