Today I was thinking about how often we encourage people to share the ‘good news’.

We say it a lot, and I hope we try and live a life that reflects what this good news means.  Luke 2:10 describes an incredible scene where an angel appears to a group of shepherds and starts speaking with them: “Do not be afraid.” (Easier said than done I imagine) “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

“All the people”; at Fusion we encourage a holistic approach to sharing our faith. Many of the activities of the loveyouruni project are an encouragement to share the Good News with words, works and wonders. However, at times I think I’ve found it easier to demonstrate God’s love than explain it. Sometimes, I wonder whether what I’ve shared has been more good advice than Good News.

A friend from a church we’re connected to uses a helpful metaphor. Imagine the scenario: one of your Christian mates has really liked a girl from your church for ages. You often spot him gazing at her like a sick puppy and he seems to drop her name into conversation a little more than seems necessary. You wish he’d just get on a do something about it before your whole small group simultaneously vomits.

You could tell him to get his act together: “Man up, stop listening to Coldplay, it makes you seem morose, shave off the goatee beard: it works for some but yours isn’t ‘edgy’ or ‘cool’, you look like a magician’s assistant. Maybe then you’ll have a chance if you ask her out.” That would be good advice. Alternatively, what if you’d had a conversation with this girl a couple of weeks before? It turns out that she’s seen beyond your friend’s puppy dog eyes, dodgy facial hair and recognised the qualities in him. She’d really like to get to know him a bit better and wonders whether there might be ‘something’ there. If you shared this inside info with your friend, that would be good news wouldn’t it? See what I mean?

Sure, we’ve all got metaphorical goatees to shave off but I want to offer so much more than self-help to my friends who don’t know Jesus yet. We have a God who can’t wait for them to get to know Him better. More incredibly, he already loves them. Are we sharing this Good News? Let's keep loving our unis and sharing the gospel, Jesus’ love, with our words, works and wonders.