A Lost Trait
Perhaps one of the characteristics most lacking in our world today is attentiveness - the ability to pay attention to the right things.
Some would argue that our culture has become increasingly distracted instead of being attentive to what's important. I suspect it has a lot to do with our wonderful but dangerous little digital devices - our phones. They are brilliant in many ways, but I know firsthand how this phone of mine can destroy my ability to be attentive.
The Battle Against Digital Distraction
Nowadays I have a smart watch, which is great for running. As most of you know, our watches connect to our phones, and so every phone call or notification will buzz on your watch. I recently disabled all the notifications on my watch because it was making me even less attentive to what I had to do. I could hardly go 10 minutes without another buzz, which broke my concentration and ruined my attentiveness.
I also regularly make use of the Do Not Disturb function on my phone to help me focus when I need to - otherwise I'm too distracted by this phone of mine, and I can hardly be attentive when I need to.
But it's more than that. I'm the sort of person who can often get something in my mind, and then that's what I'm thinking about even when I'm doing something else. Maybe you can relate? Instead of being attentive to the situation around me, I can easily let my mind wander and not really pay attention to what's pressing.
This reminds me of an old Mary Poppins quote, where she says to the children that there are those who can't see past the end of their nose!
Cultivating Godly Attentiveness
I don't think that's how God wants us to live - so caught up in our minds or our devices that we miss the important stuff. In fact, Paul Bucknell wrote an article called "Godly Attentiveness," in which he writes this: "Attentiveness is a crucial character trait found in Jesus and of all godly people. Godly attentiveness anticipates how to best respond to God and others around me."
I think that's so true. The person of God is attentive to the world around them, so that they can respond in godly ways and not be oblivious to what God might be wanting them to do.
I've spoken about Abraham during these devotions here and there during this year, and this week we will see how in Genesis 18, he shows a type of attentiveness that I believe we as Christians should all strive for. I look forward to sharing those thoughts.
But for today, let me simply leave you with this: are you paying attention to what matters, or are you letting the enemy distract you?
I pray that we Christ-followers will follow in His footsteps, by being attentive when it matters most.
