Listening to the Good News
January 31st, 2005
When I am in the grocery store check-out line, I enjoy amusing myself by reading the magazines and tabloids that fill the shelves. Just this week, I discovered such groundbreaking news as “World’s Fattest Man Marries Toothpick Woman” and “Elvis Is Alive…And Working at a Barbeque Restaurant.” These headlines are certainly good for a laugh, but I also have to wonder…Who out there is actually buying this stuff and assuming that it is “real” news?
The reality is, even when we laugh at the junk from the tabloids, all of us live in a society that is permeated by media. Neal, Gail, Joe and I were swapping stories about the many places we’ve encountered televisions in recent days. Walk into a bank and CNN is on. Run into Hardee’s and they have a big screen set up. Hospitals, shopping malls, grocery stores. There are even many churches that have installed electronic message boards so that they can run their information 24 hours a day. In a world where we can turn on the radio, internet, or TV and get round-the-clock news coverage, the church should stop to ask ourselves—How much of this is “real?” How much of what we read each week, be it a snippet in the check-out line or a banner on a giant billboard, is really worthwhile? Is there any way to discern truth from all this mess?
The good news of the Gospel shows us that the answer is yes. The ministry of Jesus indicates that close, personal relationships are the best way to reach people with the truth. Jesus didn’t broadcast his message from palaces in Rome; he came to a small province and talked to only a few thousand people in his lifetime. Jesus teaches us that hearing and discerning truth is more about quality than it is about quantity. All of the voices that are yelling at us every day from the radio or TV often only exist to fill up our lives with what I call “empty noise.” They offer lures to attract new customers; they tell us that the news is confined to who got shot today or what robberies took place. The message of the Christian church strikes against this kind of racket, reminding us that God seeks disciples, not customers. It reminds us that there is a greater reality at work than the one we can always see around us.
Take a moment this week and turn off your radio. Flip off the TV set. Find a place where there are no distractions from media in any way. It will be harder than you think. But what you discover in the silence might be the greatest news you’ve ever heard.