Can't Take the Good, Without the Bad

            Jesus loves you and wants you to have a better life.  That seems to be what passes for evangelism in many circles today.  After all, the Gospel is the good news, right? That Jesus loves me and wants me to have a better life sure sounds like good news, it probably sounds like good news to you too! The truth is, it may sound like good news, but that doesn't make it the Gospel, The Good News!  For 15 years I served in the Marines and during that time if you had told me that Jesus wants me to have a better life, I would have thought, my life is pretty great already and how much better can Jesus really make it? Do you see the problem? This statement is only half of the news that depends on a proper understanding of the love of Christ, and what the better life in Christ actually is. (Save that for another post.) But what makes the good news so good, is a proper understanding of the bad news. As Christians we cannot separate the two, and we are not sharing the Gospel if we don't start with the bad.  

            The bible doesn't try to hide the bad news from us. Starting in Genesis 3 all the way through Revelation, we read about the bad news as well as the good. Both are included and they are inseparable, and we would be wise not to try to separate them.  Romans 3 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! That since Adam and Eve, our first parents, every single human being has been enslaved to sin.  Sin has separated us from God, the one we were created to be in covenant relationship with. Because we are born sinners, every human being is in full rebellion against God. This rebellion comes with a price, the wages of sin are death, and death is more than a physical condition.  Death is also a sentence that places us under the wrath of God, deserving of His judgement against us. In John chapter 3 verse 18 we read that the world stands condemned right now. In other words, it's not that we are going to get to the day of judgment and get to plead our case, but rather the judgement has already been made, and the only thing that waits for us is the final punishment. 

            Some of you might be reading this and thinking to yourself, but why do you have to be so mean? People aren't going to respond well to that. Don't we want to be welcoming and loving? If that's you, allow me to paint you a picture, to hopefully get you to see that sharing this truth, is actually the most loving thing you can do.  Imagine a blind man walking, and what he can't see is that he is about to walk right into a huge crater, one so deep that it would undoubtedly end in his death. In this situation, what is the most loving thing you can do? Will you, from across the street shout to him, “hey man I just want you to have a better life!” Is that going to be enough to keep him from walking right into the crater? Are you going to try to suggest to him to change directions by telling him how great of a person he is? “Dude, you're such a great guy, how about you cross the street over there and just don't walk this way!” Or are you going to do everything you can to get his attention and let him know exactly the danger that he is about to walk right into? I hope you'd agree that the most loving thing you can do is get him to understand the gravity of his situation, no pun intended. 

            The bad news is necessary and loving if we truly hope to see some come to faith in Jesus Christ.  It's not enough to say Jesus loves you, it's not enough to say Jesus saves, it's not enough to say He wants a better life for you.  We must include that Jesus loves you so much that He gave His life as payment for your sin, the sin that condemns you and is going to land you in hell apart from Him. The sin that you and I commit every single day is killing us, and most of us are blind to it.  The world around us is blind, and they are walking to their death. It's time for us to love them enough to shout and give them the truth of their situation. When we share the good news, let us be sure to show just how good it is, by sharing it alongside the harsh reality of the bad!