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Information Overload Marcus Boone
Today’s world is the world of the information highway. We can have instant access to the answers of all our questions. It is not unusual to ask a doctor in Timbuktu, Israel or even Alaska the answer to our medical questions. Learning how to raise children, dogs, cats, even aardvarks is as easy as point-click-read. Even the Bible can be accessed, read, studied, interpreted, misinterpreted, criticized and talked about without ever opening the cover of real pages. Today’s world is a world that has replaced action with information. We send e-mails instead of getting out to visit. We watch the weather on radar screens instead of walking out our front door. We watch the world come and go via our computer screens and we accomplish nothing. James asks, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” (2:15). What good is it to know of a need and not do anything about it? We must provide one another with the “things which are needed for the body.” We can only do this if we know what our brothers and sisters need. We cannot do this from behind e-mails. We cannot expect others to do this for us. Often we let our husbands or wives write cards, visit or provide meals. Often we look for the church to provide the food and clothing. We cannot become complacent and think that all the needs of those in the church are being met. Jesus said, “All men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). We show that we love one another when we bear one another’s burdens. We fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:1-5) and we set an example of Christ’s love for the world around us. How can we bear one another’s burdens? How can we know each other? How can we tell what each other’s needs are? The early church did this by “continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people” (Acts 2:46-47). We must seek each other out as the early church did. We must remember that talking about needs and knowing about needs is not enough. We must work with one another with regularity, on a daily basis. We cannot allow ourselves to watch others from behind the computer screen. We cannot let the information zip by us unnoticed. If we are continuing daily with our brothers and sisters in Christ we will not only help to meet their needs, but our own needs will be met as well. Don’t let the quest for information stifle your ability to help. King Solomon reminds us that “much study is wearisome to the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). In the same manner that the world seeks information, we need to seek each other. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9-10). The world is watching us. “The world can see our hearts by our actions toward one another” (DMK, Parchment 2/1/04). Are we spending our time watching others, simply gathering information about their illnesses? Let us spend our time meeting their needs and we will have our needs met in the process.
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