Articles
The Magnifying Glass of the Media
The Magnifying Glass of the Media
“So they gave a bad report saying, ‘The land devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size…and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight.” (Numbers 13:32-33). Even 3,000 years ago, reporters sensationalized situations and the masses believed them. “Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.” (14:1). The same thing can happen today. Turn on the news and you get the impression there are murderers on every street corner, child abductors on every park bench, cancer-causing agents in everything you eat and drink, malfunctioning airbags in everything you drive, and the start of World War 3 in everything a politician says.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t need my problems magnified. I’m with Jesus who said, “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34). I don’t need the news magnifying troubles I never knew existed or that may not exist at all. It’s the media’s job to sensationalize and make us think the sky is falling. You’ll never see a headline about airplanes landing safely all day at the airport. Boring! To make money, they need to find problems and make them look bigger than they really are. Suggestion: rather than magnifying our problems, let’s limit our media intake and magnify our God instead! “Do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey…the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” (Numbers 14:9)
