It sounds random for sure. The gospel is the orignal good news. But is that how it's recieved? I was asked at my church the other day "on a scale of one to ten, how good is that good news for you?" I thought about it. And then thought about it some more. As a Christian, my immediate answer should have been, "of course the gospel is good news, so I must be around an 8 at least!" 

    But I thought about it. For me right now, the gospel isn't such good news. It means an awful lot of hard work, and for the moment at least, angry conversations with God in which He tells me to obey Him. I don't want to obey right now. I look at all my views and opinions on various subjects which I prided myself on being so tolerant about other people's and beliefs, never professing too strong a belief myself. And now that's all changed. I feel like my mind is narrower for the Christianity in it. Like for example my attitude towards homosexuals. I used to be like "whatever," and now I'm like "hang on a minute, this book says it's wrong." This book is obviously the bible, and why should a book dictate how I should think? I think my point is not maybe that my mind has gotten narrower, but I'm basing my opinions on something different, and it's confusing because they're conflicting with my old opinions. 

    There are people however, who unlinke me, see the gospel as the worst possible news. Pastors stand up and say "you should read the bible more, you should pray more, you should be going to church everyweek and getting involved in church activities." That's terrible! The gospel isn't about that. It's about being where God wants you to be, and knowing that He wants you to be with Him because He loves you, and only has the best in store for you.

    I feel very cynical about this good news right now though. Christianity is hard! There is no miracle in becoming a Christian in the sense that your struggles with sin are not over, and you become acutely aware of them. I know that no one has ever pretended to me that following Christ was easy - in fact Paul says the opposite in one of the Timothys. It's not a part that's flagged up though is it?! Christians are so eager for your soul to be saved that they convenienty forget all the struggling, the angst, the pain and the heartache. 

    I know that right now I'm not in a place where the gospel is great news. Of course the fact that some dude died so that I could commune with God is amazing, and yes, that is good news. It's just the other bits. Like the part where you keep having to go to Jesus to be cleansed because you're continually doing wrong.