Daily Devotional
Do You Know the Good News?

December 1, 2023

Ponder This

The word gospel comes from a combination of the words—telling good things. The Greek word itself literally means, “good news.” The Gospel is the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The best news the world ever heard came from a graveyard outside Jerusalem and it is this: “He is not here; for He is risen” (Matthew 28:6).

But good news is not good news unless there’s the possibility of bad news. Suppose I said to you tonight, “I’ve got good news for you. Your house is not on fire.” Well, that kind of falls flat unless you felt that your house may have been on fire. But imagine you’re in the hospital, perhaps a person you love is in the operating room, and you’re waiting in the waiting room. Then the doors swing open, and the surgeon comes out, takes that mask from his face, and says, “I’ve got good news.” That’s good news because you were unsure of what you might hear. The good news is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The bad news that makes the good news good is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3: “Christ died for our sins.” This is the major thing. No matter what else you do, if you don’t get this, you have missed it. As somebody said a long time ago, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is the Gospel.”

• What is the danger of emphasizing one part of the Gospel over another?
• How do you seek to keep the Gospel as the main thing in your life?

Practice This

Pray and ask God to give you the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone else this week.