Posted September 2, 2010
There are plenty of sources of depressing news. But where can you find good, hopeful news to inspire and encourage you?
There are few things in life more depressing than the news of today.
It seems like every time I turn on the television, open a newspaper or browse the Internet, I'm bombarded with a flood of tragedies, injustices and crises. The other day, in the span of a few minutes, I found stories about 72 migrants found dead on a Mexican ranch, about eight tourists killed when a disgruntled ex-policeman took an entire bus hostage in the Philippines and about suicide bombings across Iraq that have killed dozens and injured hundreds.
Of course many people just skip by these worldwide travesties and read instead about the wacky shenanigans of a celebrity world devoid of any sort of moral compass—all the latest cheating, faux pas and drama. I find this smorgasbord of terrible decisions very depressing as well.
Every now and again, a snippet of good news will briefly poke its head through the murky cloud of hopelessness—only to be reclaimed moments later by news of the latest international tension, natural disaster or killing spree.
A news source that gives hope
Going through the day's top stories inevitably leaves me with a feeling of "the world is a terrible place and you can't do anything about it." It's not an activity I'm particularly gung ho about. There is, though, one news source I do enjoy hearing from. It's not FOX or CNN or NPR or BBC or anything like that—it's the Bible.
Sure, it's a couple thousand years old, but it still manages to report on the most late-breaking stories—so late-breaking that most of them haven't even happened yet.
I prefer these news stories because, unlike 90 percent of what you can read, hear or watch in your media of choice, they don't fill me with an overwhelming sense of depression. Quite the opposite, they give me hope :
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Hope for a day when fighting will end, because people "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4).
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Hope for a day when diseases like cancer will cease to tear men, women and children apart from the inside out because "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4).
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Hope for a day when at long last the heavens will shout, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15).
Breathtaking glimpses
These are the news stories I look forward to hearing—the stories of a day when the reports we hear now exist only in memories as distant as a nearly forgotten dream. A day when things are finally as they should be. A future of which we are given the most breathtaking glimpses by the pages of the Bible.
There are few things in life more depressing than the news of today.
But there is nothing more encouraging than the news of tomorrow.
Discover more of this good news in these new Free Bible Study Guides:
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A Real King Who Will Return to Rescue Humanity
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God's Law of Love: Making Life Work
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Train Now to Help Christ Rule
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The Earth: Real Utopia Is Coming!
