You’ve heard the phrase before, because it seems to capture well how much of journalism works: “if it bleeds, it leads.”

The fact is, bleeding things tend to be pretty newsworthy. Potholes in the streets and traffic violations are hardly enough to capture the attention of the reading public. Still, we all get the sense that our attention is being wooed by a machine that that will oversell anything to grab 2 minutes of the consumer’s concentration. Often it works, but no one likes to feel they are being manipulated…strung along by sensationalistic over-emphasis of something that is already inherently important. The twenty-four hour focus on one or two topics is like the constant slow drip of a leaky faucet. It is all you hear. And soon, it is all you think about.

The net result of this media hyper-drive is a consumer that sometimes becomes obsessed with current events. What does this look like for the believer?

Believers pulled off center over-focus on the periphery of their worldview. At the center of the Christian worldview are things like the reality of eternal life (Psa. 90:2), the sovereignty of God (Isa. 14:24; 46:10), and God’s cosmic purpose in the creation of all things (Eph. 3:10). Along the periphery are concerns like temporal human institutions, projects, and purposes. These are all to be understood by the Christian in light of our worldview core where the eternal God is in control of human imaginings and efforts (Psa. 2:1-6; Eph. 1:11).

World events that take place this week (and next) are important and should have our attention. But they should not have all of our attention or be used as raw data that alone color our worldview. Rioting, rebellions, revolutions, and mobs are all testimony of human depravity and our incapacity to self-govern without the complications of sin in the system. What we see unfold politically and socially serves as empirical evidence of a biblical worldview and anthropology: the human situation betrays a constitutional problem with selfishness and violence. Fortunately the biblical worldview does not end with there. For our constitutional corruption God’s grace is made available to transform the soul and bring peace to a naturally warring heart.

Watching the news we are tempted to ask, “What has gone wrong?” The fact is that it went wrong a very long time ago. The problem of humanity is not new. But neither is the solution.

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Colossians 1:13-14