A study from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism asked thousands of people around the world what sort of news was most important to them. International news beat out celebrity and "fun" news by a margin of two-to-one. Economic and political news finished even higher. But what happens when we stop asking readers what's important and start looking at what they actually read? Derek Thompson with The Atlantic claims that most Americans lie about what they actually read. He explains:

[On June 17, 2014], the most important story in the world, according to every major American newspaper this morning, is the violent splintering of Iraq. It was the front-page and top-of-the-homepage story in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and more … But despite Iraq's prominent location on every major newspaper, the most-read stories on those papers' websites aren't about Iraq, at all.

So what did we actually read on June 17, 2014? The top stories across the big media outlets focused on the World Cup, a YouTube game, gluten and postpartum depression, the Miss America Pageant, and the Video Music Awards. But the biggest stories on news outlets weren't even news stories. They were quizzes, lists, and emotional poppers.

Thompson concludes, "Ask audiences what they want, and they'll tell you vegetables. Watch them quietly, and they'll mostly eat candy."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Honesty; Dishonesty; (2) Self-examination; Repentance; Spiritual growth—We're usually not very accurate when we examine our own motives and behaviors. We tend to overestimate our goodness and underestimate how much we need to repent and grow. (3) Renewal of the mind—Also, the stuff we're actually putting into our mind may not be as wholesome as we'd like to admit to ourselves and others. (4) Discipleship—It's easy to claim that we're following Christ, but our actions may betray that claim.