I’ve been visiting weekly with a woman in my congregation for many years. She is 96 and been a Christian since her earliest memories. We usually spend some time talking about our week and then I read some scripture to her and we discuss it. Recently I forgot to bring my Bible so I asked her if I could use hers.
On that particular day, she needed some cheering up. I opened her Bible to the Psalms and knew God would lead me to the right scripture to bring her just what she needed. He always does.
What I found though astonished me. She had little arrows all through her Bible. And what was more astounding was the realization that every arrow pointed to good news.
I’ve been writing and speaking about Faith Forward, a concept asserting that the Bible puts forth faith as the most important of God’s commandments. It takes a deep trust to let ourselves fall in love with the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and might. Faith, an ever deepening and widening of tested trust, is the soul/sole pursuit of the Christian.
When I realized her arrows, drawn over decades of reading, pointed to the good news that would soothe her heart and quell her fears, I started to read just the arrow highlighted scripture. Sequentially I read arrow to arrow, skipping all the other scripture in between. I watched her face soften and a light smile lift her cheeks. Soon, her entire countenance brightened as she bathed in the good news of God the Father.
She needed the good news. She needed to know that unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord, that everything he does is worthy of our trust, that everyone who is discouraged can take heart, that we can taste and see that the Lord is good, and that we can pray and all our fears are relieved, and “Oh what joy” for those whose rebellion is forgiven.
She needed the good news of faith. Not about when she dies, but for today’s life, for today’s heart, mind, soul and strength. Life is hard. At 96 it can be harder. Heaven is real and we look forward to heaven. But the good news people really need to hear is not that we have been saved from hell. It’s that faith brings a joy and confidence in God for today’s journey. This journey, right now. This pain, this struggle, this hurdle, this heartache. The joy of the Lord is indeed our strength.
Your unsaved loved ones need to know the good news they are missing out on. They already know about hell—they’ve heard that threat from many. What they need to hear is the good news of living in faith. Tasting the Lord for themselves, privately, seeing he is good, and then letting themselves slowly fall in love. Eternal life is great, and real, but it’s this life that we know about for now. And it’s this life God promised could be a blessed life, if we but believe.
The good news, for this life, is on every page of the Bible. If we read it, believe it, live it, and speak it, others will want it, too. All glory to the Lamb!
PS. Faith Forward, my latest book, is getting closer to finished. Stay tuned. www.randyloubier.com/faithforward
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