Yes! There is Good News! 2.17.18

I grew up in a branch of Christianity that discouraged the reading of the Bible. Today, I am amazed at this attempted hindrance! It wasn’t until I was 26 years of age that I picked up a bible to read. This was due to a challenge given to me by a co-worker. It had been about eight years since I had attended any type of church services, and he told me about something in the scriptures that I did not believe. I located a bible, read the passage, and realized (from the pages of the Bible) that my friend was correct. This was indeed a life changing moment for me. Without trying to be judgmental, I saw that I had been deceived.

From that moment on, I wanted to know what the Word of God said and so I read. Were there other things that I had believed in error? Yes! But why am I mentioning this in an article concerning good news today? Because, the good news for me, has been that I have come to love God’s word more and more. It is a pure joy and a real blessing to find extra time on my hands and then fill that time with reading God’s word.

I know that statement might seem strange in today’s world. People have a tendency to fill their extra time with every secular activity under the sun. And there is nothing wrong with many of the activities we have surrounding us these days. I have noticed that we have a lot of “extra time” on our hands, too. Oh, I know we are so busy these days, how could one ever say we have extra time? It has been my observation that our excessive busyness is really only the many secular activities we partake of. I could make a list of the inane things we do these days but I’m sure you are well aware of your own list.

So, where is this discussion going you ask? It comes full circle to where we were two weeks ago – it has to do with this (and let me take a line from that article): “Reading in God’s word by yourself is always a good thing to do, but reading out loud with another is a wonderful way to gain understanding and share the blessings of God’s word.”

There is a saying today that goes something like this, “the truly worthwhile things in life never come easy.” The Bible I have sitting in front of me, as I write this, has just short of 1700 pages. I must admit, that is a lot of book. And some of it (OK a lot of it) can be hard to understand. But it does contain the thoughts of God! And that is the “good news.” God has given us an anthology of books that contain instruction, history, stories, allegories, poetry, letters, prophecy and wisdom. Who could ask for more?

In conclusion let me just say this, our Heavenly Father is honored by our reading His word – yes, honored! And, you guessed it; that is good news.