Join us this Sunday! In-Person 8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am, Online 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am & 5:00pm

Join us this Sunday! In-Person 8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am, Online 8:00am, 9:30am, 11:00am & 5:00pm

Join us at the next Sunday worship service:
In-Person
8:00am, 9:30am & 11:00am
Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

GIVING GOD YOUR FULL ATTENTION

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” – Matthew 6:34 (MSG).

In a world consumed by nonstop notifications and instant gratification, it’s no wonder that teachers have noticed weaker student attention spans. In a recent survey of 107 students,  48.6 percent find themselves zoning out in class all the time, while 47.7 percent say they zone out sometimes. They are busy either on the phone or on their laptop. In some college classes where 250 students are listening to a professor lecture on 18th-century English literature, it isn’t easy to maintain full attention for several hours. There are too many distractions to the professor having the student’s full, undivided attention.

Do we ever treat God that way? Our jobs, relationships, and worries are all aspects of our lives that try to take center stage, and we vaguely hear God when He wants our full, undivided attention.  Matthew 6:33 tells us that our attention should be on God first and foremost. “Seek the kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33)

As with everything in life, we only have to look to the source of all wisdom, truth, and goodness: Jesus. Jesus was present in all that He did. Can you imagine Jesus sitting down with you at a meal and constantly looking out the window or asking you to repeat what you said, distracted and distant as if wishing He was somewhere else? No. When He healed someone, He looked into their eyes and comforted their heart. When He left to be alone with God, He listened thoroughly to His Father’s guiding voice. And on the eve of His crucifixion, knowing full well that He would be tortured and killed the next day, He remained perfectly present to His disciples, to His friends. He ate with them. He prayed with them. He washed their feet in a spirit of humility and love. Jesus lived presently and gave all of His attention to His mission.

The best way to ensure that God always has our full, undivided attention is by staying connected with and focused on Him throughout the day. With all our distractions, staying connected to Christ takes intentionality and commitment.

To stay connected, we need to have time with God every day. With our busy schedules, having dedicated time each day to sit down, rid yourself of distractions, and be with the Lord becomes necessary. While quiet time is a good thing, prayer is also important. Corrie Ten Boom said, “Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”

God deserves that when we spend time with Him, we shut everything else out and focus entirely on Him. The living God doesn’t want just some of us when we spend time with Him; He wants all of us. Just like we need full attention in a heart-to-heart conversation, God wants the same from us.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What types of things are competing with God for your attention? 
  2. How can we better give our time and attention to God this week? 

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