It’s my day off. I slept well. My house is clean and I am sitting at my desk IN THE MORNING!
I have been scurrying around the little house by the river this morning taking care of all the things people typically take care of on their days off — laundry, vacuuming, dishes, bills, cleaning — and finally I am sipping tea at the keys.
I’ve got a few things on my mind. We live in a world that is saturated with information. All day long we receive messages through text, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, television, and radio. We tend to filter those messages through our own personal preference. I don’t typically listen to country music radio or stations that play rap music — but I have. The Facebook posts I read are from people that I know and (mostly) love. My television station choices are usually limited to a very few channels that play sports, crime shows, or movies. The very limited views I get of Twitter and Instagram are very benign, indeed. And to tell you the truth, I watch and listen to very little news reporting.
Why?
Because I don’t truly trust it. I have become very jaded. I operate under the assumption that most news reports are driven by viewership and the almighty dollar. I believe it is mostly packaged to promote an agenda. I believe it cares more about hype than it does about truth.
But I do care about our world and the people in it. I do want to pray for the oppressed, help where I can, and make a difference in the world. So, I can’t choose to live with my head in the sand. I do want to be aware of what is going on in the world.
So how do I remain informed? It’s a challenge. I skim news reports — usually in print format — for facts and figures. I look at multiple sources since we know that bias exists everywhere. I try to listen to what people have to say. And, I try to pause before I react to news of any kind.
It’s not easy. And I’m not good at it. I do react. I rush to judgment. I vilify innocent people. I throw my hands in the air and say, “it’ll never be better!” And it’s pretty easy to stay there, wringing my hands and shaking my head.
But why should I “grieve like those who have no hope”? Yes, the world can look like a hot mess, but our Creator is in the business of restoration. Can he grant healing? Yes! Can he cure diseases? Yes! Can he depose tyrants? Yes! Can he bring sight to the blind and set the prisoners free? Yes!
And I should just sit here in my jammies at my keyboard and wait for it to happen, right? No!!
On the pages of my Bible study this morning were these words, “More than anything, God’s people need to know His Word and be willing to give Him the freedom to adjust our lives to its precepts.” Am I willing to let Him change me on his path to change the world in which I live? If not, than I better go back to wringing my hands.
I don’t trust news reports or Twitter feeds or Facebook posts. I trust the Word of God. And in His word this morning I read, “…He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth…that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:26-28).
On Christ the solid Word I stand, all other sources are sinking sand.
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