God is in a Good Mood

I was visiting with a local radio and newspaper reporter this morning and he and I were reflecting on the “mood” of people. Our conclusion (and it’s always nice to find somebody who agrees with me implicitly) was this: the information age has created a monster! Four major news networks pump the airwaves full of every infinitesimal detail of every possible story on the planet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The old adage used to be, “stay tuned for film at 10pm.” FORGET THAT! Now, film can be instantly viewed by satellite, youtube, cable and even on our cell phones (!) at the very instant the event is happening. The result is that if there is something to scare you, worry you, intimidate you, give you pause, terrify you and generally make you want to run to your basement, bomb shelter or local law enforcement officer, a billion people (give or take a million here or there) know about it and are spreading the word before one scintilla of fact can be confirmed.

As if that isn’t enough, then a few voices of the church join the fray. I stumbled onto a late night TV “evangelist” the other day as he gleefully quoted scriptures faster than a speeding bullet and sprayed the background with news clips full of misery. The only thing missing was the Twilight Zone theme music. His program ended with an invitation to, “come to Jesus”. Am I missing something here? If God is somehow at the root of all the crazy bad stuff, how am I supposed to want to come to Jesus?

This year, Christmas can’t come a minute too soon, as far as I’m concerned. Luke’s gospel heralds, “…there were shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. (I know the feeling!) and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them….and said, ‘I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all people’…” Paraphrased it means, “Hey, everybody on earth; God is in a really good mood! He would really like for you to join Him.”

This isn’t to say that we should pretend that bad stuff isn’t happening. It IS to say that the only productive way THROUGH bad stuff is to wrap your arms around a God who is in a good mood. He’s not angry. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God (Isaiah 53:11). He’s not the cause of our calamity, He isn’t in need of anger management counseling, He’s not running out of patience and He is most certainly NOT looking for new and creative ways to roast His creation! Nice and slow, read the Luke passage again, “GOOD news….GREAT joy…. for ALL people…”. God IS in a good mood; join Him.

Turn off the bad news and go do some holy rockin’ around the Christmas tree. That’s where you’ll find me and my house this year.