Sick of the news? Believe in the good news!

            Towards the end of September, I decided that I was going to avoid the news.  Which has not been easy to do during the month of October.   Especially since I have friends in Ukraine and family in Israel.  Which means, that, no matter how much I try to avoid it, it still gets to me, somehow.  So, what I did instead, was limit the amount of news that I took in. 

            It’s really easy for those of us that are, well, addicted to the news to become pessimistic.  After all, the news, regardless of your political affiliation, tends to want to stir up emotions.  I.e., the phrase, “if it bleeds, it leads”.  Having talked to people who’ve lost family members in these wars and conflicts, I can tell you that it doesn’t do it justice, anyway.  So, I became fatigued by the news.  But not all news. 

            As a Christian, I believe in the good news of Jesus Christ, that is to say, the gospel. 

            “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23, NRSV Catholic Edition).

            And as a Catholic, that’s the news that should matter most to me.  This isn’t to say that other news isn’t important.  But, I’m fatigued by it.  When that’s your whole life, you run into a real trap of that becoming your god.  But, the LORD is my God, and I am to have no others before him (Exodus 20:3). 

            Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), not your news channel of choice.  Some of them (I am not going to name names), I don’t think even believe there is a truth.  Or, if they do, it certainly isn’t the truth of Christianity. 

            Remember, the phrase, “Repent, and believe in the good news”. (Mark 1:15).  Because, the truth is, while other news can be important.  This is the only news that your eternal life depends on.  Don’t dwell on the negative of the world.  Believe in the good news.  Because that is what matters the most.    

New Revised Standard Version Bible, Catholic Edition, copyright 1993, and 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.