I recently stopped watching the news..with the exception of a little Weather Channel. That may not sound like a big deal, but for a girl who only watched Fox, CNN, ESPN, and The Weather Channel it has been a major change. I didn't do it for Godly reasons...ha ha! Well, at the time I didn't realize it was God.
One particular weekend the broadcasting and reporting was pretty bad. All the major networks were reporting the same story, but the guests who were invited to speak, and even the anchors, were so ignorant of the topic it was nauseating. I thought...there isn't news anymore. It is all about sensationalism. What can we say and do to get the biggest reaction?
Well, that weekend I decided that was it...no more. I haven't watched for close to a month. Guess what? My life did not end. My world did not collapse. The more I lose touch with the www the more in focus my own surroundings have become. Over the weekend, my son prayed for the victims of the India airplane crash. I had no idea what he was talking about. In that moment, God said, "You had become the ultimate spectator."
You see nothing new is going on in the world today. There is no cycle that has not already been repeated. However, the media allows us an awareness of what is going on all over the world. Fifty years ago most of us would have no idea about the devastation in Haiti or what the Koreans were up to.
Now we sit around staring at our T.V.'S and computer screens worrying about everything but doing nothing. I pray for those in Haiti. I pray for those in N and S Korea. What am I doing for my family? What am I doing for my neighbor? What am I doing for my co-workers. There is certainly nothing wrong with praying for the world, but watching and worrying is not a ministry.
The world has become the ultimate spectator. We have stopped relating and stopped living in order to observe. The problem with that is it is not living. It is certainly not fullfilling the purpose God created me for. Not watching the news has been refreshing and enlightening. I can either observe, or I can live.
What about you?
"watching and worrying is not a ministry..." Love that line and it's so true!!! That is what the news does - stirs up fear in us! Fear is not from God!! I keep asking people when they are going to start a "Good News" tv show, but every one says no one would watch - how sad is that!!??!!
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