Article by Chad Westfall
Contributing author, Biblecia.com
We Need True Good News.
The promise of good news is everywhere, and good news is necessary. Good news comes to us in the form of solutions to our problems. We have 4 problems in our world that can be used as case studies to prove this. 1) There is bad news about a dangerous virus that is taking the world by storm today, and good news is offered in vaccines and preventive measures that can save our lives. 2) We are on the verge in America of total economic collapse, but the good news is that if we choose the right person we will be delivered from this horrible fate. 3) There are a lot of deep-seated inclinations to evil in our culture concerning judging others by the amount of melanin in their skin, but there is hope found in deep introspection and confession. 4) The world is rapidly heading towards catastrophe because of man-made climate change, and we are offered salvation through conservation and recycling programs. All of these seeming problems have solutions, good news or a means of salvation from what we have been told by the world are very serious problems. What we need to understand is that these seeming problems fall short of the real problem, that we are estranged from God without hope in this world. And the solutions to these problems, the gospels according to the world, fall far short of saving anyone. These are all false gospels, but they do help us to see that the whole world longs to be saved. We want eternal life, we want peace, we want to be blessed in a land flowing with milk and honey, we want the world to be right in all its facets. The real problem is not that we long for a solution, the problem is that we are looking for the solutions to our problems in the world instead of turning to God for the one true gospel. All of our attempts at peace, at eternal life, at blessing, at joy will fall apart if they are not built on the foundation of Christ, in fact if we dare to build the solution on anything else we will be like the fool that built his house on the sand (Matthew 7:25-27). The world is looking for the solution, and we desperately need it. How do we get the solution to our problems? We need the true gospel, it is true that the gospel does not promise health and prosperity on this earth. You may be saved by the message of the gospel and then die of a terrible disease, you may find redemption with God and then be persecuted by men, you may see great revival in the land and then a world-changing natural disaster occurs. So how is the gospel the solution to all our problems if it does not wipe out all the problems we face in this world? The answer is that there is an underlying reality that makes men want to avoid the result of all our problems in this world: we will all die one day and face the final judgement. That judgement is the one event that we truly need to be saved from, man can only harm the body, God will destroy body and soul of all men in Hell for all eternity. Which is worse to live in poverty, to live where some people judge others for their skin color, where some die of sickness, or to spend eternity in the lake of fire for the sins you have committed against a Holy, Just God? So, we need the authentic gospel of Christ more than anything. It is time we refocused our attention on this gospel. It is long overdue that the truth of what Jesus has done cuts through the false gospels of the world that bombard us from the media and from those we meet in the world every day. The best way for us to accomplish this is to take time to examine God’s word concerning the matter, and so for the next few months( as the Lord affords me time and ability) I am going to examine the letter of Paul to the churches in Galatia. This letter is especially helpful because it was written to churches who had been listening to a barrage of false gospels with the purpose of refocusing the church on the beauty of the truth that Jesus saves sinners from the worst problem that they have or will ever face, the wrath of the creator of the universe. May the Lord help us to see the hope that is found in Christ in the book of Galatians.
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Chad Westfall is by the grace of God, a follower of Christ, a husband to his best friend and the father of 6 beautiful children.
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