Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. (Rom. 1:1)
Expanded Passage: Romans 1:1-2
Have you ever had to wait on news? Some of the scariest moments of our lives can happen in waiting rooms. A loved one is in surgery. Perhaps you are about to hear the test results. Sometimes the news is great, and sometimes it is not what you wanted to hear. I will take the good news any day!
The news from the Lord is good. The gospel or “good news” about eternity is extremely good. God set Paul apart to be a messenger or “apostle” of that eternal good news. After a period of persecuting Christians—of him being bad news—God stopped him in his tracks and showed him the better way. He became a servant of the very king whose authority he had rejected.
As he wrote Romans, he sensed that his time preaching in the east was done. He sensed that God was sending him west, maybe even to Spain. More people needed to hear that good news in a world full of bad news.
God is sending us too. We are still God’s messengers of good news to a world that is full of horrible news. The best news is that God wants to rescue us from whatever pit of despair we may find ourselves in. We as believers should be God’s ambassadors of joy to the world.
Be good news to those around you today and every day!
Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton College (NY) and dean of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
