Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—a mega-dose of encouragement for Christians everywhere. Sinners are always welcome here. We've left the light on for them.

 

More than a quarter-century ago Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote the best-selling book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." It was a smashing success. He wrote from the perspective of a father whose son, Aaron, had died of an incurable disease. Driven by grief and too many questions to answer, Kushner studied the life of Job in the Old Testament. One of his biographers suggested that Kushner "let go of the notion that God is all-powerful in favor of the notion that God is good." He settled for a good God with a flaw--a less-than-sovereign God who only partially ruled the universe and partially answered prayer.

 

Too many Christians, in my opinion, hold to similar beliefs. When things go bad and their prayers are not answered to their satisfaction, they are tempted to conclude that God is powerless to act. In other words, their God is flawed. Even worse, those who hold these views tend to believe that God is against them more than he is for them. They draw their conclusions from watching, listening, or reading the views of those who believe that if there is a God, he is not a loving, encouraging, healing God, and he is a God that is less than all-powerful.

 

They aren't reading the Scriptures. The scriptural evidence is overwhelming that God desires good things for his children, not bad things. He sent his Son, Jesus, into the world to redeem the world, not to condemn the world. The title for this week's epistle is, "Really, Really Good News." If you know of someone who is hurting with grief, loneliness, or guilt, this "Tuesday Morning" is for them. It is attached below. Consider doing this: After you have read the attachment, forward it to someone you know who needs encouragement. And send it along with your prayer that God will give hope and restoration to their soul.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

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Really, Really Good News

Tom Barnard

 

o I have good news for you today! It’s not new good news. But it is good. It is the kind of news we need to read every day of our lives. It comes from the heart of The Book—God’s book—the Bible. In fact, you can hardly find a book in The Book where this news is not mentioned. The secular world does not read The Book, so it doesn’t even know that such good news exists. But it does.

 

For commentary on this Good News I could quote some of the most revered writers from this age or ages past—Barclay, Lucado, Maxwell, Swindoll, Criswell, Graham, Fulghum, Lewis, Jeremiah, Ogilvie, Jowett, Jones, Tozer, Johnson, London, Dobson, Schuller, Wesley, Calvin, Zwingli, Luther—to name a few. But there’s one writer that is contemporary in every sense of the word—Edwin B. Young of Dallas. In his book, In the Zone (2006), Young says,

 

“Too many people have an unexplainable and paralyzing fear that God is out to get them, that he doesn’t want anything good to happen to them. But that could not be further from the truth…our loving God is a God who is for you. He’s not against you.”

 

Is this just “televangelist talk,” or it is true? If you believe the Bible, it is true. Check out these references:

·        “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” Proverbs 10:22

·        “The Lord gives strength his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

·        “All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 28:2

·        “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands. His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.”  Psalm 112:1-3

·        “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

·        “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”  Romans 8:31-32

 

As Young points out, “The essence of God is generosity.” The Gospels teach this. In John 3:16 we often focus on the second part of the quote—“…that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”—and we inadvertently skip over the first part of the quote—“For God so loved the world that he gave…”  How good is that? But what do these verses mean? Let me suggest some answers:

 

1.      God is a generous God. By nature, God gives graciously of His abundant resources.

2.      He loves us, and He loves us unconditionally. There is nothing we can do to stop Him from loving us.

3.      God is for us, not against us. Both in life and in death, God’s plan is for us and is eternal.

4.      He shows His love for us by the tangible and intangible blessings he bestows upon us. Constantly.

 

How do we get on the receiving end of all this good stuff? How do we become a receiver? As Young points out, “You have to first be blessable.” In other words, we need to be “able” to be “blessed.” This involves who we are and where we are.  Blessings are not like “manna” from the Old Testament Exodus that just showed up each day for all to eat. God’s blessings don’t just fall out of heaven, landing on anyone who is occupying a spot near where the blessings fall. God’s blessings are for those who qualify for His blessings. And who are they? In John’s gospel the Apostle identifies those who are “blessable.” He said Jesus (the Word) came to his own people (the Jews), but they did not receive him. Then in John 1:12 he said, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not by natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

 

Born of God. Are you one of them? Have you received Him? Have you believed in His Name? Has He forgiven you of your sins? Have you repented of your past ways? If you have, you are blessable. Rejoice!