Good News In Tough Times

There is a well — known saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going"! That is exactly what happened to the Christians in the days of the early church after Jesus had gone to heaven after the resurrection. We read of this in Acts 8 The believers in Jesus were shocked when the godly man Stephen was murdered. This sparked a period of bitter persecution in Jerusalem and the areas round about. The persecution was led by a young man called Saul of Tarsus and many Christians fled from Jerusalem.

However instead of bringing about the collapse of the young church it actually led to the Gospel spreading far and wide. How did that happen? Because wherever Christians went as they were scattered from Jerusalem they preached the Good News of the word of God. No doubt people would ask these strangers why they had come to settle in places where they were not known. We are told that they then passed on the Gospel and God in his goodness added new converts to the church. Tough times — but the Good News spread.

That is a real challenge for us wherever God has placed us. Do we too spread the Good News? We don't need to be preachers or theologians. What we do need to do is what these early Christians did. They just spread the Good News of God's word wherever they went.

Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to tell others about Jesus and his love. Amen.