BETTER NEWS (April 26, 2024)

“That’s old news.”

In an information-obsessed world, that may be the ultimate put-down. Round-the clock—and endlessly repetitive—reporting crackles from hundreds of cable television channels. All-news radio stations compete for our ears when screens can’t have our eyes. Newspapers, which for two centuries held the world in thrall, now struggle with declining circulations because so much has changed in the eight hours between final edits and home delivery. The news they carry might now be “old.”

Before we greet the day, or our spouses—or the Lord—we scan our screens on smartphones and tablets, starving for the latest news of disasters near and far, scandals among the famous, and a world bristling with violence.

But the ultimate value of information is something other than urgency. Is it true? Is it relevant? And most importantly: Is it good—and good for us?

The Bible reminds us that the best news is often the oldest—the enduring truth that never ages: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19). “God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

That news has been around for centuries—two millennia, in fact. And nothing has diminished its truth, its relevance, and its essential goodness.

Grace is always timely—and enduring.

So stay in it. -Bill KNott