The Difficulty of Good News

Have you ever thought about how hard it is to quantify "good news"? "Bad news" is pretty easy. "This went wrong." "That bad thing happened." "We had a disaster over here." The reason "bad news" stands out, however, is because it ... stands out. Imagine, for a moment, a large white sheet. The sheet has a single, small black mark on it. If someone held it up in front of you, where do you suppose your eyes would go first? That black mark, of course.

The other day I was listening to a news item about how our society is moving away from using cash and heading toward a cashless society. They commented, "The government has saved millions of dollars using these cards." And I thought, "There's good news ... but how do you quantify it?" How do you quantify how much money was not spent? My friend bought a new car the other day and reported to me his "good news": "I saved $5,000!" He bought a $25,000 car for $20,000. But I saved $25,000 ... by not purchasing the car at all. Isn't that better news?

It's hard to quantify sometimes and more often than not we're not even looking. We hear, for instance, that 40,000 people died in car accidents last year. We don't even think that more than 250 million Americans did not die in car accidents last year. We remember the 3,000 that died in the World Trade Center disaster but don't even think about the 50,000 that were supposed to be there and weren't and, therefore, didn't die. How many auto accidents do not occur every day because people do observe red lights? How many people do give to charity to help homeless, poor, and starving people? How many problems are avoided by doing the right thing? When your car breaks down, do you think about all the time it worked or are you mad that it failed this time? Am I getting this idea across?

Humans have a tendency to be ungrateful (Rom. 1:21). And because of its nature, bad news stands out. Maybe, just maybe, we would benefit from careful and considerate review of the truth that God is gracious and gives us much good rather than immersing ourselves constantly in the bad things that seem to press in so often. After all, Paul does say, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:18).