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Good News!

Once in a while you come across something that makes you doubt. It may be a glimpse of a powerful demonstration of supernatural abilities by a person who is not a Christian. And it makes you think, have I got it right? Even science and technology can bring doubts. Every day it seems that we are headed towards a utopia where God may become irrelevant. We will be able to live forever according to transhumanism, travel beyond Alpha Centuri and join the Q Continuum wherever they may be found. 

You don't have to look for doubts about the Christian message to have doubts. They follow us everywhere. And we are not alone. The believers at Colossae would certainly have had doubts. Rogue teachers appear to have brought in a different message of human salvation.  And of course these young Christians would always have had some questions about their identity being a small church in an obscure part of the world, religiously speaking, that  not planted by any apostle! 

Paul was keen to reassure them that what they had indeed received the real deal! And early on he tells them, don't worry you are true Christians because we have seen evidence of your love and faith. And more than that you have a hope rooted in the gospel ( "the good new") of Jesus Christ. What sets this good news of Jesus apart from everything else we hear everyday? Paul answers the question in the verses below : 
Of this [hope] you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth (Colossians 1:5b, 6)
First, the good news of Jesus is the word of truth! We have no other truth about God and life apart from the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the truth that makes sense of all truths! If you know Jesus you have all the truth you need to live for God and have a meaningful existence. Because it is the truth we dare not live lives that contradict it or exchange it for a lie! 

Secondly, the good news of Jesus Christ is the word of life. The good news is alive and growing every dimension. When a person receives the good news of Jesus they come alive and start growing in God, even in the most hostile of places. It can't be stopped because Jesus is alive and at work in our lives and the world. The good news of Jesus breathes new life us through the Holy Spirit in us who begins to change us and people around us. 

Finally, the good news of Jesus Christ is the wonderful grace of God at work. It is a free work of God not a earned work of man. It is all about God giving himself freely to wretched sinners such as us. God becoming man and dying on the cross for our sins. And this incredible truth stands tall against all lies peddled by man that he can save himself. The good news of Jesus is God's project where he is the CEO, the employee and ultimate shareholder.

What all of this means is that anyone who has not embraced the good news has no hope, no faith in God, no life at work and missing out on this sensational unmerited favour of God. Rejecting or not hearing this good news which is available to the world is a serious thing. As Christians we must get out and share it for it is the only means of rescue from sins and its consequences. 

The good news of Jesus is on offer to the whole world without exclusions. Therefore in every way we live our lives, we should be pointing people to this good news of Jesus. Not fluffing around. Every follower of Jesus is to be "gospocentric". The good news of Jesus is and must be centre of the life of a follower of Jesus. Many of us are failing here and we immediately need to repent and ask for God's forgiveness. 

This repentance must be accompanied by a new purpose for living. A life holds onto this good news as the foundation of everything. We must never try to build on anything else. We don't need any other truth. This is the grace of life. There moments when we feel unfulfilled but God sees something different. He sees His Holy Spirit at work. He sees his work bearing fruit. Our responsibility is yield to Him and begin rejoicing in that! 

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Lessons from Colossae : Identity (1:1)

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2014
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