We all have had someone say to us "Do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?" When talking about spiritual matters, there is bad news and good news.

The Bad News
The bad news is that we are a sinful people on our way to hell. The good news is that Jesus has intervened and has provided a way to heaven-The Gospel. The Gospel message is simple to share. Because of sin there is a price to pay. Jesus has paid that price. Sometimes we make the sharing of the gospel too hard.

The gospel message is easy to share. The hard part can be the living out the gospel. Let me explain.

When we first accept Christ into our life we experience a love relationship. We realize how much He loves us. We realize that He took our sins on the cross. Many times when a person is saved they immediately experience some type of deliverance in their lives. They have simple faith to trust God. However as time goes on, some individuals don't spend much time reading God's word or spending time in His presence. They start to forget about the bad news. They are not willing to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal more of the ugly stuff in them. So they are not able to experience the good news of being changed more into the image of Jesus. Their Christian walk is stagnant. This is not the hard part. It is natural to walk this way.

This is what can be hard:

When someone is sold out to Jesus, they spend time in His word, they are confronted by the Holy Spirit that God is a holy God. They are confronted with the secret sins in their life. They realize that God held back on them. At the time of salvation, He did not let them see just how much sin is in their lives. He knew it would be too devastating. He was gracious. Maybe over time the Christian has started to feel like they are better than all those sinners. So the Holy Spirit brings the fire of conviction.

Now here is the hard part-the devil tells you that "God is holy, holier than you ever thought He was. As a Christian you have been living with sin in your life. You have been a hypocrite. You have hidden sin in your life. You have not been walking in victory. You have not trusted in Jesus. You ask for forgiveness and then you go and sin again. Maybe you are not really saved." What do we do when this happens?

The Good News
Jesus is still the answer. The gospel has not changed. The all knowing God knew we would fall. He knew that even as a Christian there would be sin in our life. He knew before we were created what the secret sins would be. Receive the Good News and walk in the Good News. The closer we get to Jesus the more we see our sin, but we should also see more of His love, forgiveness, and grace. Press in towards your Heavenly Father. See Jesus as your advocate. He ever intercedes for us.

Copyright @ 2001 Richard D. Dover. All rights reserved.
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