The News Is Good

Romans 10:14-15

How will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15)

PAUL WAS PASSIONATE ABOUT the message of salvation, and he recognized its implications for both Jews and Gentiles. He shared that salvation came through faith in Christ but realized that the vast majority of people outside of Jewish circles had never heard of Jesus. So he quoted a passage from Isaiah about messengers who bring the good news of God’s deliverance—how he defends his people and accomplishes salvation for them. In Isaiah, the prophecy leads to a remarkable description of a suffering servant who would come in the future. In Romans, Paul points to the same suffering servant whose work was now done.

It’s a beautiful and often-quoted passage about the urgency of the gospel and the importance of faith in Christ, and it serves those purposes well. But sometimes lost in the discussion is the nature of the news itself. The Good News doesn’t place a higher demand on us than the law did, though its standards are much higher. It doesn’t promise a life of hardship and discipline, though things won’t always be easy, and discipline is rarely a bad thing. It doesn’t promise us impossibilities that it can’t deliver. And it was never, ever designed to frustrate us.

That’s good to know, because a lot of Christians are frustrated by the demands of righteousness, their fear that the gospel’s promises might be false, the drudgery of trying to be like Jesus without the power to actually be like him, and the burdens they were never meant to bear. And a lot of non-Christians see the frustration, along with the Christians who have not lived up to what they claim, and assume the Good News isn’t all that good.

But it is. It is full of freedom and hope. In your own life and in conversations with others, remember that the gospel, which literally means “good news,” is actually good news. Refuse to be burdened by false versions, and live with peace and joy. That’s a message today’s world needs to hear.

{Lord, please never cease to remind me that if the gospel I’m living isn’t setting me free, it isn’t the gospel. Fill me with life, hope, peace, joy, and love, and draw many into the Good News of salvation through your people. Amen.