How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation. Isaiah 52:7
The internet loves bad news. No surprise there, right?
In a study of 105,000 headlines and 370 million impressions published by an online news site, researchers concluded that each negative word increased the click-through rate by more than 2 percent.[1]
With all this clicking on bad news, do we even need the experts to tell us that time online increases anxiety and depression? When we sink into despair over, not just the problems of the world, but the problems in our own lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ breaks through to remind us that the problems are His. “Have you forgotten how big I am?” He asks us. “The larger my view of Jesus, “writes Cary Schmidt, “the smaller the problems and the more possible the impossibilities.”[2] Another pastor said, “Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work!”[3]
The gospel tells us that Jesus has done all the work that’s needed. He’s completing the final redemption of creation and the transformation that we who follow Him need in our lives. Scripture says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation” (Isaiah 52:7).
Jesus-follower, you’re called to be that messenger. Jesus has a good news assignment for you. You aren’t asked to solve all problems, answer all questions and right all wrongs, but you can be a distributor of hope and grace, delighting in, displaying and declaring God’s good news in Jesus.[4]
[1] Thompson, Derek. “Click Here If You Want to Be Sad.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 Mar. 2023, www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/03/negativity-bias-online-news-consumption/673499/.
[2] Schmidt, Cary. Steady Strength: Reversing Ministry’s Dangerous Drift toward Depletion. P. 70. Moody Publishers, 2023.
[3] Heitzig, Skip. “John 5:31-6:21 – Skipheitzig.Com Teaching.” SkipHeitzig.Com, 2016, skipheitzig.com/teachings_view.asp?ServiceID=4076.
[4] Schmidt, p. 70.
