Saturday, February 1, 2014
Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
MORE THAN A LITTLE GOOD NEWS
You may be familiar with the Canadian singer songwriter, Anne Murray. She had a number of songs that rose to the top of music charts back in the 1980s. One was titled "A Little Good News" in which Murray expressed the thought that it would be great to hear only good news reported on the evening news, stories of kindnesses done by people, of caring things done out of love. She lamented that there are so many depressing news stories of robberies, assassinations, drug deals, downturns in the economy, etc.
I think we can relate. Don't we grow tired of hearing about evil things happening in the world? Don't we long for the day when Christ will return to deliver us from this bad news world and take us into heaven's perfect joy?
But that's still future. We're still living in the here and now. As long as do, bad things will happen because sin which wrecked God's perfect world in the beginning.
Yet, there is good news. In fact, the best news we could hope to hear. More grand than the most exciting news headline we've read in the paper or surfed across on the internet. It's the news of how God's Son descended from heaven and died on the cross to liberate us from the oppression of sin, the dungeon of death, and captivity to Satan so that, through faith in Him, we might become God's eternally favored people. It's news that brings gladness to our hearts while we pass through the valley of sorrows that is this sinful world. Eventually it will give way to the perfect, undisturbed joy we'll experience with Christ when He returns to take us home.
Holy Jesus, every day Keep us in the narrow way;
And when earthly things are past. Bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide, Where no clouds Thy glory hide.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 127:4)
