How to Stay Hopeful in a World Obsessed with Bad News

Research shows that we react more strongly to negative than to positive information, which explains why there’s more bad news than good news in the news. Let’s test this theory. Note your visceral response to these stories:

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates today.
New technology can produce drinking water from seawater using solar power.
Rescuers freed an eleven-year-old boy who was trapped between two boulders for more than nine hours.
China freed an American pastor after nearly twenty years in prison.
Research shows that people like us more than we think.

By contrast, what’s your emotional response to these stories?

AI pioneers are calling for protections against “catastrophic risks.”
A recent report warns that the US is facing the “most serious and most challenging” threats since 1945, including the real risk of “near-term major war.”
Infections that are resistant to medications could kill nearly forty million people in the coming years.
Mosquito-borne diseases are surging in Europe.
High parental stress is now an urgent public health issue.
Nearly two in five Americans are at peak stress levels for the year.

Our “fight or flight” instincts may attune us to threats in the news, but new research shows that being “hopeful and forward-looking” is especially effective in combating stress and anxiety.

Philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin observed: “The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.” Similarly, the present belongs to those who give the present generation the same.

How can we be people of hope in a hurting world?

Bridging the “Moral Empathy Gap”

In a fascinating recent experiment, researchers from Stanford and the University of Toronto studied ways we try to persuade others to change their minds. They found that the vast majority of us employ arguments evoking values we favor rather than those favored by the people we seek to influence.

For example, political liberals typically argue for same-sex marriage by pointing to fairness and equality rather than appealing to conservative values such as loyalty and unity. The vast majority of conservatives make the same mistake, appealing to their values while ignoring or denigrating those of their opponents. A better approach is to speak to the values that matter most to those we seek to persuade, thus bridging the “moral empathy gap.”

Here’s the good news: Our Lord faces no such gap in dealing with us. He understands us better than anyone else can. In fact, he understands us better than we understand ourselves:

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5).
“Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lᴏʀᴅ, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:4).
“God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:20).

This is not only because our Lord is fully omniscient but also because his Spirit lives in every believer (1 Corinthians 3:16), feeling all that we feel and knowing all that we know. As a result, he can empathize with us as no one else can.

When you are feeling pain or stress, know that your Father is feeling it as well. Tell him what is burdening your heart and mind. You might consider using the “psalms of lament” (cf. Psalms 6, 10, 38, 42–43, and 130) to make their words your own.

Trust the empathy of God, and you will experience its life-giving hope for yourself.

Why “Love Cures People”

One of the best ways to experience the hope of Christ is to share that hope with others. The famed psychologist Karl Menninger observed:

“Love cures people, both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.”

Here again, the good news is that God can do through us what we cannot do by ourselves.

If Jesus is your Lord, he is living in you today. As Oswald Chambers noted, “By regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us, and in our physical life, he has the same setting that he had on earth.” You are literally part of the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27) as Jesus continues his earthly ministry through you.

Consequently, if we yield our minds and hearts to the Spirit each day (Ephesians 5:18), he will give us God’s mind and heart for those we seek to influence. We will sense insights that are not our own and hear ourselves say words we did not plan to say. We will be led to meet needs we did not know existed and to love with God’s unconditional grace.

Some of us will serve as foreign missionaries. Others will serve as “secret missionaries” in places where Christians are not wanted or welcome. And all of us will serve as cultural missionaries who meet felt needs to meet spiritual needs, earning the right to demonstrate God’s empathy in our compassion.

But note: Our ministry is only transforming if we share the transforming message of the gospel. Otherwise, we meet the needs of the moment while neglecting the needs of eternal souls. Paul asked, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14).

In a world of bad news, we have the best news of all. But good news is only good if it is news.

With whom will you share it today?

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the Day:

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” —John Bunyan

Related Resource: Overcoming Political Anxiety and Turbulent Times | Philippians 4 Meditation

This guided Christian meditation from Philippians 4 will help you release the anxiety and fear you feel about the future of our world. If you like what you hear, subscribe to So Much More on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!

Published Date: September 18, 2024

Jim Denison, PhD, is a cultural theologian and the founder and CEO of Denison Ministries. Denison Ministries includes DenisonForum.org, First15.org, ChristianParenting.org, and FoundationsWithJanet.org. Jim speaks biblically into significant cultural issues at Denison Forum. He is the chief author of The Daily Article and has written more than 30 books, including The Coming Tsunami, the Biblical Insight to Tough Questions series, and The Fifth Great Awakening.