Hear ye! Hear ye!

And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? As the scripture says, ‘How wonderful is the coming of messengers who bring good news!’ But not all have accepted the Good News. Isaiah himself said, ‘Lord, who believed our message?’ So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ. (verses 15-17)

Read Romans 10:14-21

The ancient Incas of South America didn’t have mobile telephones or email. The citizens of Cuzco didn’t rely on satellites to receive news of what was going on in Machu Picchu. Their communities were separated by some of nature’s most menacing obstacles. Yet still they had an effective means of spreading news. They had runners who took messages from one place to another by foot.

The good news of Jesus Christ came to you by a long line of runners: pastors, teachers, family, friends, a Bible someone printed, maybe even with the help of modern technology. The point is that God doesn’t just zap the truth into people’s minds en masse. He sends his good news via messengers. How can others learn about Christ? They need to hear. They need to be told. You are God’s runner—a bearer of good news!

Lord God, ‘take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for thee’. Amen.

by Simon Cooper, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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