3 Ways to Respond to the Good News of the Gospel in the Christian Life

In today's post, 3 Ways to Respond to the Good News of the Gospel in the Christian Life, we will learn that responding to the Good News of the Gospel does not JUST occur at the time we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but is something we should respond to every day of our lives.

{For those of you visiting who are seeking and wondering just what the Good News is and how you can experience it, please visit my post, If It's Free It's For Me, which you can read HERE, where you will find hope for your weary souls.}

I believe that the shepherds in the fields, who the angels visited heralding the news of Jesus birth, can show us three ways to respond to the Good News of the Gospel in the Christian Life.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths                       and lying in a manger.”

 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  

             Luke 2:8-20                      

                       RESPOND TO THE GOOD NEWS                         WITH EXPECTANT JOY AND HOPE

Advent is such a blessed time of year.  The time of year that Christians reflect upon the promises of the Old Testament which tell of a Savior to be born.  With renewed joy, expectation and excitement, the Believer prepares their hearts in remembrance of the Good News, the birth of their Savior Jesus Christ, and their hearts are filled with hope looking forward to the next Great Day, His second coming.

For the past few years, I have been doing an intentional advent Bible study.  I have found that spending the days leading up to Christmas studying and meditating upon all that advent means, centers me in a way like no other in preparation for Christmas.  It's as if I am experiencing the same excitement the Shepherds felt when they heard the Good News, even though I did not actually witness this amazing sight.

The Word of God truly is alive and active.  A Word that can create feelings inside the Believer for an event they did not witness, but only read about, YET feel the same expectant joy and hope of the coming of the Savior.

We too can praise God with the Angels saying,  “Glory to God in the highest heaven."

This is a wonderful way to respond to the Good News of the Gospel at Christmastime.  But this type of response is not just reserved for Advent.  For we can experience expectant joy and hope responding to the Good News of the Gospel every time we read the Bible or think upon it's verses.  Through prayer and praise, our response will be a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Just like the shepherds who were in awe when the Angels came to tell of great and wonderful things, we too can experience that same awe, every time we open our Bibles or pray.

                    RESPOND TO THE GOOD NEWS                       BY CONTINUALLY SEEKING JESUS

When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were no longer seekers looking for answers and confirmation, but Believers whose hearts accepted and experienced the Truth of the Good News of the Gospel.

Seeking takes on a whole new meaning once we become a Christian - seeking to deepen our relationship with Jesus; seeking to Worship the Lord with our whole hearts; and seeking God's wisdom in all that we do...  I'm guessing I'm not the only one who does not seek Jesus in this manner every day.  Whether intentionally or not, the distractions of the world can find us seeking after the world instead.  And of course, there is seeking after the things that we selfishly want.

But what if we lived in the gratitude of expectant joy and hope and allowed that to spur on seeking after God as if for the first time - only every day.

There is an excitement when we seek after something.  Seeking indicates a desire to catch.  I'm sure we all remember a time that we sought after something and the joy we felt when that which we sought became ours.  We also can remember a time that we were pursued and how loved and special that made us feel.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus died so that we would have eternal life.  Doesn't then Jesus deserve us continually responding to the Good News of the Gospel in constant pursuit of a growing relationship with Him?

The more time we seek to spend in prayer, in the Word and most especially, putting that Word into practice, will our relationship with Jesus grow.   Our lives will be ones that testify to the Good News of the Gospel.

Just like the shepherds, may we continually seek after all that the Lord has shown us, that our minds would be filled with only that which is pure and lovely and good, and that our actions would testify to the love of Christ.

                        RESPOND TO THE GOOD NEWS                         BY SHARING THE GOOD NEWS

As we see over and over again in Biblical accounts, when people learned about Jesus, experienced Jesus or even saw Him, it was as if they were propelled to tell the Good News.  {In my post, Urge to Push, which you can read HERE, I share my own experience of feeling propelled to share the Good News.} 

When we think of good news in our own lives, we think of news such as an engagement, a pregnancy announcement, the birth of a baby, a new job or answered prayer just to name a few.  We love to share good news.  It's in our nature to do so!

In the same way, the Lord built into His Children a natural response to the Good News of the Gospel to SHARE the Good News of the Gospel.  It is not something to be kept under wraps.   It is not something to be hidden.  It is something to be proclaimed.

The Gospel in a nutshell is the story of the birth, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  But I would contend the Gospel is soo much more.  For the entire Bible points to Jesus' redemptive story.  Every sentence in Scripture is Good News for they are the very Words of God.

I also believe that the working of Christ in our own lives through every aspect of it, speaks of the Good News of the Gospel.  We are called to praise God in ALL things and indeed ALL things are praiseworthy because God is at the center of our lives.  Now that is Good News!  

This Christmas, be like the shepherds, go out and share ALL that God has done.  You will be blessing someone who does not know Jesus with the opportunity to be amazed by the Gospel.  You never know, the Lord may use your response to the Good News of the Gospel to plant seeds that will sprout at a later date or to bring about a conversion right before your eyes!

May we all continually live our lives in response to the Good News of the Gospel.

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