Sharing Good News

Yesterday I just learned to be sincerely sharing good news from God that I know to a friend. Sincere as in I do not have intention to change his belief. What I want is just to share what I know is good. Just like when I share about duolingo or the real estate salesperson course that I think it’s good, I share what I know about God. It started with a casual chat after our lunch when he asked me whether I went to church regularly. I said yes, but I don’t believe that rituals are the most important. Because being a Jesus’ disciple means a relationship. I was joking to him that there is no point of having lunch with him if I just kept quiet or look at my handphone during lunch. Similarly, there is little use if we sleep or browse through social media during a church service, or if we come to church just because of social status or trying to get a community. Because it means that we are not relating to God. Of course, we need to relate to the community as well as the point of going to church is to relate to God as a community of believer. Otherwise, we can just read the Bible or listen to a numerous amount of sermons in youtube ourselves at home.

I was also sharing to him that Jesus asked His disciples to share the good news to others. This means that I also hoped that he can know Jesus as well someday. But it does not mean that I want to force him to know Him. Because if I do that, it means belittling God’s way as God has a unique way to introuce Himselves to each one of us. Just like how I finally accepted Him as my saviour during the musical by Indonesian Students’ Christian Fellowship in 2002.

He asked me what do I think if we go to church or temple to receive blessings. Amazingly, he said that if we go to temple to get blessings, that means we are not sincere. Well, it’s true if we are to have relationship with our God. But if we treat God like a doctor, then it’s normal to only seek Him when we are in need. Because nobody goes to a clinic or a hospital if we or our beloved are not sick. So if we consider God as a doctor only, go ahead and just seek blessings in Him. But if we consider Him as our Father or our Teacher, or our Friend, then we need to seek Him not just when we are in need, but because we enjoy talking to and listening to Him.

So yesterday it is a good reminder from God that it doesn’t have to be so formal in sharing the Gospel. Gospel is the good news that there is God who wants to relate to us, and sacrifice Himself in order to redeem ourselves.