With so much uncertainty in the world right now, it’s easy to sink into despair. The 24-hour news cycle is filled with dire warnings from across the globe. Social media is inundated with worst-case scenarios, hatred, disrespect and bitter defiance.
As Christians, we tend to have more of an eternal view. However, even we get trapped in the hysteria, and lose sight of the fact that God is still in control. We substitute the truth of God’s Word with the last piece of bad news on the internet. We accept the prison of hopelessness the world provides, while forfeiting the comfort and peace that Jesus freely gives to those who trust in Him.
Think about your own life. It isn’t always clean and neat, is it? While many of us would tell the story of our lives in a linear pattern, the reality is that our experiences are more like an overwhelming number of intersecting lines. The ups and downs. The challenges and successes. The blessings and the struggles.
We get bogged down in something that seems insurmountably painful at the time, but then move on with life once that situation drifts into the past. We often remember the hard times, while forgetting the way that God worked in the midst of the difficulties to carry us through them.
Will’s statement; “We substitute the truth of God’s Word with the last piece of bad news on the internet. We accept the prison of hopelessness the world provides”, rings a little bell in my head especially “bad news on the internet”. It takes Holy Spirit discernment to understand the dangers of putting too much trust in what the world has to say about the world we live in and what they deem worthy of reporting or sharing. I heard it quoted; “reading news will keep us misinformed and not reading it will keep us uninformed.” God led me to stop watching news media. When I read news from any outlet, I seek His discernment. When I do this there is a peace that passes all understanding because I know who is in control no matter how bad the news story is. Don’t get me wrong, I sympathize and get sad and get angered over some of the tragedies and hurts that people go through. It is the other stuff they try to sell as what I need to know, what I want to know, and how I need to react that requires discernment and a careful eye. Things of this world and how they report it will certainly give its intended results which are uncertainty, anxiousness, fear, hate, anger, rage, etc….
Don’t let the last piece of bad news on the internet rob you of peace.
