There's a quote that says, "News is to the mind what sugar is to the body." If that's true, which in my case it feels like it is, I understand why my mind is always craving a new story like my taste buds often crave a bottle of ice-cold Coke. We all crave new information or new fun facts, and it makes sense that the foundation of the word 'news' is the word 'new' because, in the end, we all crave new things, whether its new clothes, a new experience or new information- like news. Our minds feed off of it, and if you don't believe me, just look at how many times you catch yourself checking Facebook each day.
Typically, I spend the beginning of each of my days absorbing a lot of news- everything from national news and sports headlines to catching up on blogs and social media. After an hour or so of checking all my favorite news outlets, catching up on all the latest on social media and discussing it all with co-workers or friends, I could typically tell you all of the major news headlines from the past 24 hours, as well as what most of my best friends did all night or had for dinner- all pieces of information, not all of which are that important.
It's funny to me how my mind craves and processes news and is able to recall it. News, whether its facts, figures or statistics, or just a semi-important headline, just seems to stick with me. I have no problem remembering it, carrying on conversations about it or simply reading it; however, when it comes to the 'Good News,' my mind doesn't work that way at all.
If the meaning of the word Gospel is "good news," then why doesn't my mind seem to absorb the Gospel in the same way that it seems to absorb other news? It's like my mind has an on/off switch for how and what it chooses to want to retain or absorb. If my friend posts on Instagram, I could probably tell you the photo and the caption of that photo with no trouble at all up to several hours after I saw it, but if someone were to ask me what I'd read in my Bible that morning, I'd probably respond with a, "Uhh.. I can't remember the exact verse or concept, but it was really good." . . .
It's just as if my mind doesn't treat the "Good News" like news at all anymore. My mind doesn't always crave it like 'sugar to the body,' and it doesn't really feel like the Gospel comes with the newness of news anymore. It's as if my mind has subconsciously turned the Gospel into a story I've heard a thousand times over that still has too many big words that I still can't comprehend. What was once "Good News" feels like old news, and my mind doesn't seem to crave old news.
I don't know if this is a head issue or a heart issue, and I really don't know how to go about working on it. I just recognize the disconnect I've been having between the head and the heart on craving, reading and absorbing the Gospel. I want to crave it like I crave checking other news in the morning. I want to be able to retain it like I can retain each of the national headlines I scroll through on my computer screen. But how?
I don't have a solution, but I know I'm not alone in feeling like the Good News of the Gospel sometimes feeling like old news. After all, how does one take a message that has been told for thousands of years and make it 'news'? I'm not really sure, but I think if we can begin to seek that one piece of newness in the news of the Good News, it can start to cure that sugary news craving and spark the "Good New" into New News again.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: Seek that one piece of newness in the news of the Good News that cures that sugary craving.