Discover why the Gospel is good news for the broken—and why you can’t save yourself. Trials, grace, and freedom all point to Christ alone.
What the World Gets Wrong About Good News
I’ve got good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?
We live in a world that thrives on this contrast. Headlines, conversations, and even our inner thoughts often toggle between hope and despair. But here’s the truth: nothing is truly “free.” Every true blessing comes at a cost to someone, and every sacrifice can point to a deeper blessing.
Where there is good news, bad news often lurks nearby—or so it seems. So what exactly is good news? And what qualifies as bad news?
From a worldly perspective, good news is anything that makes life easier, more pleasurable, or more secure. Winning the lottery? Good news. Getting a flat tire? Bad news. A friend being available for lunch? Good news. A cancer diagnosis? Bad news.
But this is a shallow lens—one that only sees the surface of life. It’s rooted in the temporal, the immediate, the flesh. Scripture reminds us that “the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). There is more to this life than just this life.
Why Trials Can Be Good News in God’s Economy
A godly perspective flips the script. In God’s economy, a painful trial can be good news. A desire to indulge the flesh is bad news. Why? Because suffering leads to endurance, character, and hope. Meanwhile, ease and comfort can lull us into spiritual apathy, making God seem unnecessary.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 ESV
The Gospel: Good News for the Broken, Bad News for the Proud
So, is the Gospel good news or bad news?
That depends on your heart. For the self-righteous, the Gospel is offensive. It declares that no one is good enough, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It confronts our pride and exposes our inability to save ourselves. That’s bad news for anyone clinging to self-sufficiency.
But for the broken, the humble, the weary—it is the best news imaginable. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8–9). The Gospel is not a performance-based contract. It’s a covenant of mercy.
God’s Law Reveals Our Need for Good News
Think of parenting. Do you want your child to live in constant fear of being kicked out of the family? Of course not. But you do want her to develop a healthy respect for your authority. Likewise, God’s law is not meant to terrify us into obedience, but to reveal our need for grace. “Through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20), but “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).
The law is good—it reflects God’s holiness. But it cannot save. It awakens sin, exposes rebellion, and leads to death (Romans 7:7–11). Only the Gospel can transform the heart. Repentance is not the cause of salvation—it is the fruit of a heart already made alive by grace.
The Best News: You Can’t Save Yourself—But Christ Can
The good news is that suffering is temporary. But here’s the paradox: suffering itself—though painful—can be part of God’s good news. It refines us, draws us closer to Christ, and prepares us for eternal glory (Romans 5:3–5; 2 Corinthians 4:17). What feels like bad news in the moment may be the very soil where eternal hope grows.
Suffering is inevitable in this life. But even that suffering is not wasted.
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
2 Corinthians 4:17 NLT
The Gospel offers a way out of eternal suffering. There are no strings attached. If salvation required perfect human execution—like carrying a tablespoon of water across a continent without spilling it—it would be a cruel joke, not good news. That would be hell, not heaven.
But here’s the miracle: Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly. He did what we could never do.
By works of the law no human being will be justified… but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe…
Romans 3:20–22 ESV
The Gospel is 100% faith in Christ’s perfection and 0% trust in our performance. If salvation depended on us, we’d all fail. But with Christ dying for us, rising for us, and living in us, salvation cannot fail.
Do you believe this? Do you believe that salvation comes by trusting in Christ alone? Jesus said, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). But “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Salvation is not something to be controlled or achieved. It is a gift to be humbly received. “Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5).
That’s not just good news. That’s the best news.
Learn more about the Good News of the Gospel
Image created in Copilot and refined in Photoshop by Matt Pavlik
Matt Pavlik is a professional counselor, author, and devoted follower of Christ. With decades of experience in Christian counseling, he writes with theological depth and everyday clarity. His resources—centered on salvation, identity, marriage, and emotional healing—are anchored in Scripture and guide believers to discover the freedom of their identity in Christ and the security of their salvation in Him. He and his wife Georgette, married since 1999, live in Centerville, Ohio, and have four adult children.
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