Now That’s Informative

Our world is a bottomless sea of information.

While a few are able to effectively navigate its currents, many are floundering beneath its relentlessly pounding waves. Every moment of every day we’re inundated with new ideas, thoughts, theories, and findings, from books to signs to social media. Information is everywhere. Some of it is good and useful, and the rest of it, well, not so much.

For this reason, a filter is needed when gathering, processing, and utilizing information. And that’s where our third simplification question comes in handy:

“What do I (we, they) truly need to know?”

There is such a thing as too much information. I don’t just mean those times when Aunt June is sharing about the intricacies of her recent doctor visit or when your colleague is carelessly divulging the details of their recent weekend escapades. I mean when there is so much information available it becomes dizzying and confusing. It becomes a barrier to its very purpose—being informative.

Too much information can actually be uninformative.

Therefore, what’s most needed in our age of information overload is the ability to carefully curate and share the right information. This requires not just an eye toward the information itself but a solid understanding of who will be consuming that information.

We can vividly see this concept at play in Luke’s Gospel.

At the beginning, Luke lays out what he’s up to with this project and why. He states that many others have already drawn up accounts of what Jesus did and fulfilled. He also notes that these accounts are based upon eyewitness stories, sermons, and speeches. Next, he tells how he’s done his own careful research and investigation. And from that, he’s crafted a precise and ordered account of Jesus. His reason for doing this was so that Theophilus (likely his benefactor for the project) can know the certainty of what he’d been taught.

Wow!

Luke masterfully demonstrates how to recognize his audience and ask what they truly need to know. Once he defines that, he knows his goal. Then, he’s able to skillfully gather and share the right information to accomplish that goal.

This is our task as well. To properly navigate the sea of information we’re all swimming in by learning what information we need to accomplish our goals, and then, to let the rest simply roll by.

White Space Moment

Take a few minutes to wrestle with the following questions:  

• How do you determine what information you are taking in?  
• How do you know when you are taking in (or sharing) too much information?  
• Do you have a process for determining what is “good and useful” information?

After you’ve answered these questions, get with a friend to talk through them.