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We live in a world that seems to be, at least to me, starved of good news. It’s as if, somewhere in the ether, an agreement has been reached that good news will only be shared in a time of extreme emergency. If you’re like me, you end up feeling so in need of something positive that you’ll look all over for it. I’d get a lot more done if I didn’t spend so much of my time scrolling through social media feeds looking for something positive to improve my mood or my day.
Have I, then, lost sight of the same thing as the Galatians Paul is writing too here? They have the good news. The good news. The GOOD news, the kind that really is good, does not disappoint or let down and does not fade away after one glorious moment or cycle. Jesus is alive. He did to free us from sin, defeated death by rising again and calls us to spread the news abroad: hope is here, freedom is here, joy is really, really possible. Peace can be yours, mine, everyone’s. All things are possible, through him.
So why do I feel so short of good news? Why did the Galatians, apparently, go looking for a good time elsewhere, very soon after hearing and accepting this gospel of Jesus? It’s a mystery isn’t it. The most exciting news that there could possibly be, and we have a tendency, a desire even, to consume it, like anything else we scroll past online, and then forget about it, almost as soon as we’ve seen it. Or maybe that’s just me.
Don’t get tricked in to thinking that we need more good news than we already have. Life can be hard, impossible even, but we have an unchanging God, whose unchanging love for humanity led him to dwell amongst his people and pursue relationship with them unendingly until he had succeeded. We are not alone. Life is not all bad news. Rejoice today!