{"id":1242,"date":"2021-12-16T09:50:07","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2021-12-16T09:50:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:50:07","slug":"good-advice-vs-good-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/16\/good-advice-vs-good-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Advice vs. Good News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Throughout this season of Advent our focus is \u201cThe Story of Christmas in 20 Words.\u201d  On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we\u2019ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus.<\/em>

14.  News<\/strong>

Imagine that you have a child who is battling cancer.

It\u2019s as if a shadow has fallen over your life.  Everything feels surreal.  It\u2019s hard to eat or sleep.  Little things that used to bring joy now seem meaningless.

All that matters is that your child might somehow go on living.

As you sit in a hospital waiting room, a friend offers advice.  He\u2019s just read about a new experimental therapy.  Perhaps you should give it a try.  And some people are having great luck reducing pain with hypnosis.  And have you tried megavitamins?

At that moment your child\u2019s surgeon enters the room.  She takes your hand.  \u201cThe surgery went far better than we imagined.  We have every reason to believe the cancer is gone.  Your child is going to live<\/em>.\u201d 

Moments like that change your life forever.

As author and pastor Tim Keller points out in his book Hidden Christmas<\/em>, there\u2019s a world of difference between good advice and good news.  Many people think of Christianity as a list of heavenly suggestions.  Jesus is a life coach who offers take-it-or-leave-it recommendations for finding happiness and meaning. 

But from the very beginning, the Jesus Story isn\u2019t advice.  It\u2019s news.  It\u2019s not the recitation of a few things that you<\/u><\/em> ought to try to make happen, but the announcement of something that God<\/u><\/em> has already<\/u><\/em> made happen.

Consider the words of the angel of the Lord \u2013 backed up by a \u201cgreat company of the heavenly host\u201d \u2013 to the shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem:

\u201cDo not be afraid. I bring you good news<\/em> that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord\u201d (Luke 2:10-11). 

It\u2019s worth pausing to note that there are several kinds of \u201cangels\u201d described in Scripture \u2013 supernatural beings who exist to serve God.

Seraphim (the name means \u201cburning ones”) appear just once.  In Isaiah 6:1-6, these six-winged creatures hover near God\u2019s throne declaring, \u201cHoly, holy, holy\u201d \u2013 underlining God\u2019s utter perfection of character.  Two wings are used for flying, two for covering their faces, and two for covering their feet. 

Cherubim are known to lovers of classical art as chubby, rosy-cheeked toddlers with tiny wings.  Rest assured such images do not have their origin in Scripture.  Cherubim appear in Genesis (where they guard the Garden of Eden), Exodus (where two of them are sculpted with massive wings stretching out over the ark of the covenant), and Ezekiel (where they are portrayed with four wings and four faces \u2013 the kind of creatures you might meet in a nightmare instead of a Rubens painting). 

Dozens of other verses in both Old and New Testaments describe what we might call \u201cordinary angels.\u201d  What do ordinary angels look like, and what do they do?

Many people are surprised to learn that angels, as portrayed in the Bible, do not have wings.  Although most texts are stingy with details, they seem to appear as young men.  They occasionally assist God\u2019s people \u2013 helping Lot and his family hightail it out of Sodom in the book of Genesis, and breaking Peter out of jail and escorting him to safety in the book of Acts. 

But their chief task is embodied in their name.  Angelos<\/em> is the Greek word for \u201cmessenger.\u201d  An angel\u2019s job is to bring news from God.

In the four chapters that tell the story of Jesus\u2019 birth (Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2), angels appear six times.  They almost always inspire terror.  Gabriel\u2019s first words to both Zechariah and Mary are, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid.\u201d  Joseph and the shepherds are likewise reassured, \u201cThere\u2019s no need to freak out.\u201d 

You might want to rethink any fantasies about receiving your own angelic encounter.  Such episodes tend to scare people\u2019s socks off. 

On the other hand, you may already have unknowingly been in the presence of one of God\u2019s supernatural messengers, as suggested by Hebrews 13:2: \u201cDo not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.\u201d

So why don\u2019t we get to experience extraordinary angelic press conferences like those associated with Jesus\u2019 birth?

The answer is that God\u2019s good news, declared twenty centuries ago by his supernatural messengers, hasn\u2019t changed. 

Anyone afflicted by hopelessness, fear, or despair doesn\u2019t need good advice.  There\u2019s more than enough of that going around already. 

But all of us hunger for moments in which we truly grasp that God has already accomplished<\/em> everything we need in order to be the people he has called us to be.

Moments like that change your life forever<\/em>. 
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout this season of Advent our focus is \u201cThe Story of Christmas in 20 Words.\u201d  On each of the 20 weekday mornings ending on Christmas Eve, we\u2019ll spotlight a single word from the Gospel accounts that helps us ponder more deeply the birth of Jesus. 14.  News Imagine that you have a child who is battling cancer. It\u2019s as if… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[373,119],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-angels","tag-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1244,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions\/1244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}