How Beautiful Are the Feet of Those Who Bring Good News

Scripture: Romans 10:14–15

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

Today’s reading in Romans 10 brought something to my attention and it started in verse 14.

How can someone believe in someone they have never heard of? And how can they hear if nobody tells them?

It seems like such a simple question, but it made me think about something. When you’re born and raised, like myself, in a household where strong Christian values are part of your upbringing, you can sometimes forget that not everyone has had that same experience. We, as in me, can become so accustomed to knowing God, hearing about Jesus, and understanding the Gospel that we (me) unconsciously assume everyone else knows, too.

But they don’t.

And that brings me to my grandmother. Mama, as I called her.

My grandfather on my mother’s side has been a pastor for as long as I can remember. I grew up understanding the role of a pastor and the importance of the church and to the community. But my grandmother showed me something different. She showed me what it looked like to carry the Gospel outside the walls of the church.

Mama was retired, but retirement never meant retirement from spreading the Word of God.

Once a week I watched her, volunteer at food distributions organized by her church. She would go out into the community, meet people where they were, and share the goodness of God. She would even go to the park in her spare time to spread the Gospel.

And she did these things while battling illness.

Even in the midst of her own struggles, including her severe health challenges, she held fast to God. She continued to cleave to Him. She continued to show up. She continued to share her faith.

Looking back, I realize that Mama wasn’t simply passing the time or finding something to do in her retirement. She understood that there were still people who needed to hear about God. There were still people who needed to know about Jesus. There were still people who needed to hear the good news.

And she wasn’t going to assume they already knew.

Reading Romans 10 today gave me a different perspective on something I had witnessed my entire life. I understood that my grandmother was spreading the Gospel, but today I now understand the significance of what she was doing.

Paul asks a question that I think we should all sit with: How will people believe if they have never heard? How will they hear if nobody tells them?

Sometimes we get so comfortable in our own faith that we forget there is a world outside of our own experience. We assume people have the same foundation, the same understanding, the same access, and the same relationship with God that we do.

But faith is not something everyone has been introduced to. And the opportunity to share it doesn’t always come in the form of a sermon, a church service, or standing behind a pulpit.

Sometimes it looks like volunteering at a food distribution. Sometimes it looks like standing on a street corner with a painted sign. Sometimes it looks like striking up a conversation with a stranger at the park.

And sometimes it looks like a retired grandmother, in the midst of her own battles, refusing to stop telling people about the goodness of God.

I think that’s what Romans 10 reminded me of today.

Mama lived her faith out loud. She understood that the good news was meant to be shared, and she spent her life making sure that the people she encountered had an opportunity to hear it.

I hope I never become so accustomed to the goodness of God that I forget there are people who still need to hear about it.

Love, Prayer, & Blessings, 

Gabrielle Jadat