At one point or another, every single one of us has probably said this to someone: pay attention.  If you’re a teacher or parent, you’ve probably said this more times you can possibly count!                                                                                                                           

And to be fair, while we’ve all said it, we have probably all been the recipient of this command as well.  I know I have! 

Pay attention.  Look alive.  Heads up.  Get your head in the game.  Regardless of how we’ve said it or heard it, we’ve all been there. 

I vividly remember playing little league baseball with a young man who could not pay attention to save his life.  I mean that (almost) literally.  During a practice, he was ‘playing’ 3^rd base (he was daydreaming and kicking around dirt) and took a line drive straight to the chest.  Thankfully, he was OK, but that pretty much guaranteed he only ever played rightfield from then on. 

Spiritually speaking, we often talk about paying attention to God.  We instruct each other to pay more attention to the scriptures or the work of God’s Spirit in their life.

And this is good.  We should absolutely encourage this as the Spirit of God is at work in the world here, now, and today.  God is on the move and our task as followers of Jesus is to “set our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) and “consider Him” (Hebrews 12:3) as we “pay the most careful attention to what we have heard” (Hebrews 2:1). 

I 100% agree with all the above, and I’m not suggesting we should stop doing any of that.  However, it appears to me that we keep saying this and not much seems to change.  So, what if we reversed it?  What if instead of paying more attention, we need to pay more distraction? 

Hear me out…

The other day I was thinking about how easily distracted I am by so many insignificant sources.

My phone is always there, inviting me to come explore the world through social media.  Just keep scrolling and eventually you’ll find “it” while never quite telling us what “it” is. 

The computer is always there, offering me a world of information right at my fingertips.  After all, knowledge is power we say… but then again there is that pesky warning that knowledge puffs up…(1 Corinthians 8:1)

The television is always there, inviting me to take a break, laugh, be reaffirmed in my own personal convictions, and be entertrained (no, that’s not a misspelling – we are being trained, shaped, molded by what we consume through our eyes and ears) into the shape of our cultural moment and values. 

Everywhere I look, there are distractions keeping me from pursuing God and cultivating spiritual habits, but…

Shouldn’t Jesus be the ultimate distraction? 

Think about it – we’re talking Jesus here.  He walked on water, healed the sick, raised the dead, made the power structures of his day nervous enough to murder Him, and then He arose on the third day, ascended to the Father, and ensured the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the world and within God’s children. 

How are we not distracted by that?  How are we not more distracted by Him?

Maybe we don’t need to pay more attention – maybe we need to pay more distraction.  Maybe we need to allow God to be our greatest distraction.

So, how do we allow God to become our greatest source of distraction?  Here are three ideas:

EXPECT JESUS 

We must believe – be convinced – that Jesus Christ is at work in the world here, now, today.  If we don’t live from a place of deep, determined conviction that God is doing something here and now, we will inevitably live as though the only place to encounter God is in our Bible or in our churches. 

Please don’t misunderstand - I’M ALL FOR BIBLE READING – I’M ALL FOR THE CHURCH – but if we reduce our capacity to experience God’s presence and activity to those two places and practices, we’ve set ourselves up to live lives empty of any sort of meaningful experience of God.  Expect to be distracted by Jesus.  Expect to be interrupted by His presence.  Expect for your day and plans to be disrupted by Jesus regularly.

STAY ALERT FOR YOUR ENEMY 

We must consider the possibility that the reason we’re so easily distracted is because we have an enemy hellbent on our destruction through distraction and deception.  The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), but don't think for a moment that means he comes running at you in broad daylight wielding a pitchfork yelling, “I’ve come to steal, kill, and destroy you!”

As strange and terrifying as all that sounds, that would be easier for us to face.  The devil, however, has mastered the long game.  His endgame is your destruction, and he is happy to distract and deceive you in little ways until you finally arrive where you never thought you’d be.  Stay alert.  The devil prowls long before he pounces (1 Peter 5:8). 

CONTENTMENT > SETTLING

The Bible teaches us to eagerly desire the gifts of God (1 Corinthians 12:31, 14:1).  The scriptures remind us that God can do more – infinitely, immeasurably, inexhaustibly more – than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  Jesus taught that those who believe in Him will do even “greater works” than He did (John 14:12).  What am I getting at here?  There is a difference between settling and contentment. 

Settling is what we do when we believe that we’ve experienced and have all there is to possess – there is nothing more.  Contentment, however, is what we feel when we’re grateful for what we have and yet, because of who God is, we keep our hearts and hands open for whatever God wants to do next.  After all, none of us can fathom what God has prepared for those who love and wait for Him! (Isaiah 64:4, 1 Corinthians 2:9).  God calls us to contentment – not to settle – and if we want God to be our greatest distraction, we must continue to delight ourselves in God alone, so He alone can give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). 

Do we stop paying attention to the work of God in our world? 

Of course not.  Keep paying attention.  After all, whatever gets our attention most, gets our affection first. 

But as we seek to consider Christ, let us also give Him our distraction, so that Jesus becomes Lord over every area of our life – attention and distraction alike. 

So, may you set your eyes on Jesus and may He become your best and greatest distraction.