I’ve felt it. We’ve all felt it, January was a whirlwind: fires in LA, Trump’s first days in office, corporate responses to attacks on DEI, unexplainable plane crashes. It’s the first month of 2025 and the news cycle has already made it harder for us to create, think or even function the way we normally do. Whatever this new normal is.
I came across a comment recently from journalist Elaine Welteroth that said:
“I don’t know about you, but I find it challenging to locate the mental space to post pretty pictures or operate business as usual while the news cycle has me and everyone I know in a chokehold.”
And I sat with that for a second. Because what is this really saying?
First, it reminded me of something I’ve learned the hard way: when we are exhausted, we don’t have the energy to perform. When I read the part about “pretty pictures,” I thought about the times in my life when I was burned out from performing at work. Posting and posing on red carpets that showed the highlights of my Hollywood PR job or keeping up with the latest headlines was no longer a priority. Those moments showed me the difference between what gives me energy and what drains me. Exhaustion clarifies things.
But the bigger question I had was: why does the news have us feeling like this?
Because when I hear chokehold, I think stronghold. And biblically, a stronghold is anything that blocks us from living out God’s original intent for our lives.
So what is really holding us back?
The lie that “knowledge is power.”
Knowledge Is NOT Power. God’s Knowledge Is Power.
Somewhere along the way, we were told “knowledge is power.” That the more we know, the more in control we’ll be. But where does that belief even come from?
I looked it up—Sir Francis Bacon is often credited with the phrase “knowledge is power” in the 1500s, though the idea had been circulating even earlier. His Latin phrase “ipsa scientia potestas est” appeared in his work Meditationes Sacrae (1597), and later, philosophers like Thomas Hobbes expanded on it in Leviathan (1651). During the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods, knowledge was seen as the key to progress, control, and influence—especially in politics, science, and education.
But when I go to my ultimate source of truth—the Bible—I see something completely different. Scripture never says knowledge itself is power. Instead, it warns us that knowledge without wisdom, discernment, or alignment with God can lead to pride, deception, and even destruction. From the very beginning, in the Garden, Eve (and Adam) weren’t tempted by wealth, status, or material gain—they were tempted by knowledge. And it wasn’t just any knowledge. It was the knowledge of good and evil—something God had deliberately set a boundary around.
So if knowledge alone were power, why would God, the Creator of all wisdom, restrict access to certain knowledge? Because not all knowledge is good for us. Not all knowledge builds. Some knowledge distracts. Some knowledge deceives. And some knowledge, if we’re not careful, can drain us of the energy we need for the work we’re actually called to do. From the very beginning, Eve was deceived because she wanted to know everything. The serpent promised her knowledge, and like us, she took the bait. But God had already determined that some knowledge wasn’t necessary for us. In fact, it was so unnecessary that He told Adam and Eve not to seek it.
That tells me something powerful: some knowledge isn’t meant for us. Some knowledge isn’t useful. Some knowledge isn’t power—it’s distraction.
And this is where we’ve been deceived. Because today, we consume news as if it’s fuel. But instead of empowering us, it’s exhausting us.
I know this firsthand. I’ve had moments when I spent too much time consuming—scrolling, reacting, keeping up. And every single time, it’s left me more drained, not more equipped.
Are We Consuming Information, or Are We Becoming the Answer?
The people shaping culture aren’t obsessing over the latest headline.
Kendrick Lamar is not stuck in online debates—he’s preparing for a Super Bowl performance that will define his legacy. Beyoncé was not distracted by election news cycles before Christmas—she was building her live performance of Cowboy Carter, moving with precision, leading an army of creatives. Even the tech billionaires shaping the future conversations around DEI right now are busy implementing their points of view not reading headlines.
I had to ask myself: if the people we admire (or don’t) are filtering out distractions to focus on their work, why aren’t we?
Why do we think we need to know everything?
Why are we spending our energy reacting to the work of others instead of creating the work we’re here to do?
Why are we more consumed with the world’s problems than with the problem we were created to solve?
This is the deception. The news isn’t the issue—our lack of discernment is.
What Do We Actually Need to Know?
It’s easy to say, “We need to stay informed.” But I’ve had to challenge that in myself—why?
Why do we need to know every crisis if we’re not the ones called to solve it?
Why do we spend hours in conversations about things that take us nowhere?
Why do we feel more urgency about other people’s work than our own?
I’ve learned this the hard way: if I don’t know the answer to the problem I’m becoming, then I don’t have time for the 24-hour news cycle.
Because when we do know, we finally have the clarity to filter out what fuels us and what drains us.
This Is Our Wake-Up Call.
We are not tired just because the world is exhausting.
We are tired because we haven’t set the right boundaries.
We are tired because we haven’t distinguished which relationships give us life and which ones drain us.
We are tired because we’re consuming everything instead of focusing on what actually fuels our work.
So here’s the truth: knowledge is not power.
The only knowledge that is power is knowing who we are becoming (the God idea for our lives) and stewarding our energy accordingly.
I’m learning this.
So let’s lay down what’s draining us. Let’s protect the energy we need for the work we’re truly called to do.
Love y’all,
Kevin
it's the "stolen" for me.
I definitely needed that Substack! Thanks so much 🤍