Good news is for sharing. We forget that the story of Jesus is good news, something that should be n

Everything in life has good news and bad news associated with it. The entire truth is generally found in a combination of both. Emphasizing one side to the exclusion of the other is not the whole truth. The same is true of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The bad news, spiritually speaking, is that we are all sinners deserving of hell for our sin against a holy God (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Our sin has kept us from His presence and eternal life (John 3:15–18). No one can earn his or her way into the presence of God because there is “no one righteous” (Romans 3:10). Our best human efforts to please God are “as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Some evangelists and street preachers focus exclusively on this aspect of God’s truth, which could be considered the “bad news approach.” The good news is that God loves us (John 3:15–18). He wants a relationship with His human creation and has communicated with us in a variety of ways such as nature (Romans 1:20), the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16), and Jesus coming in human form to live among us (John 1:14). God does love us. He does want to bless us. He wants a relationship with us and desires to teach us His ways so that we can become all He created us to be (Romans 8:29). Teachers who focus only on the good news are leaving out a vital part of God’s plan of salvation, which includes repentance (Matthew 3:2; Mark 6:12) and taking up our cross to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). Until we know the bad news, we can’t truly appreciate the good news. You would not appreciate a stranger bursting into your home and dragging you outside, unless you first understood that your house was on fire. Until we understand that we are destined for hell because of our sin, we cannot appreciate all that Jesus did for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). If we don’t realize how hopeless we are, we won’t recognize the great hope Jesus offers (Hebrews 6:19). Unless we recognize that we are sinners, we can’t appreciate a Savior. The best approach is to present what the apostle Paul called the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). God’s whole counsel includes both the bad news about our natural state and the good news about God’s plan to redeem us. Jesus never eliminated either of these when He brought “peace on earth, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14). His 1`peace is available to everyone who is brought to repentance by the “bad news” and joyfully accepts the “good news” that He is Lord of all (Romans 10:8–9).

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How can we make sharing our faith into a normal part of our lives? Here are a few ideas:

• Learn to appreciate the wonder of what God has done for us. Sometimes we have trouble sharing the gospel because we have forgotten what's good about the news of Jesus! Before we can tell others about the joy of being a Christian, we need to experience that joy ourselves. Before we can help others experience freedom from darkness, we need to know what it is to walk in the light.

• Recognize that we can share good news even when we don't tell the whole story. Not every conversation has to be a full presentation of the story of salvation. When Jesus healed the man who was possessed by a legion of demons, he told the man, "Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." (Mark 5:19) A great place to begin when sharing our faith is to merely point out good things that God is doing in your life.

• Love your neighbor as yourself. That's very basic, I know, but it's also easier said than done. If we believe that the greatest possession we have is God in our lives and that others can have that as well, doesn't it make sense that we would want them to know that? Focus on love. Speak motivated by love. Let love shape your speech and your actions toward others. Doing that will make telling others about Jesus a natural occurrence.

• Pray. Prayer is an essential part of every step we take as a Christian. It's especially important when dealing with others. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." (1 Corinthians 3:6) We can plant and water, but only God makes things grow.

It's a natural thing to share good news.

Those are just a few basic steps. When we recognize that sharing our faith should be a natural activity, we can begin to make that an ordinary part of our lives.

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Lord, teach us to run to You in the midst of trouble. Forgive us for trying to bail ourselves out, and lead us to the peace of trusting Your wisdom and ultimate deliverance. Thank You that You will help us!