Distracted
I’m thinking of an occasion when I went out to eat with some good friends. My wife and I hadn't seen this couple for months and there was lots to get caught up on. Shortly after we were seated, we became aware of a table of four to our right. There were three women and one man. One of the women in the group was holding forth quite loudly. She was talking about herself and her life since she had retired. When the others at the table spoke they were inaudible, but when this woman spoke every syllable came through loud and clear.
Even though her subject matter was totally inconsequential - she spoke of cleaning out the papers in her files, and getting rid of knick-knacks and clutter - we all found our attention drifting in her direction. It took several minutes of purposely ignoring this woman and her friends, before we could concentrate on our own conversation.
We ordered our food and began to chat, enjoying each other's company. All of a sudden I was startled by a question. Now, it wasn't the question that startled me. I was taken by surprise because I had completely shut out the conversation at our table in favour of one that was happening at the table to my left.
The couple sitting at that table were having a quiet conversation. But as they talked, I found myself being drawn in. I completely tuned out the interaction at my table, in order to concentrate on the dialogue at the next one. I didn't do this consciously. My attention simply drifted as I picked up a word or two that distracted me from my own conversation. I want to add that their conversation was so inconsequential that I can't remember what it was about. They weren't plotting a crime or discussing intimacies.
What surprised me was the way I was drawn away from paying attention to the people I had come to spent time with simply by overhearing a word or two softly spoken. Once distracted, I remained that way until someone deliberately drew me back to the business at hand - that of enjoying the company of my good friends.
What strikes me now is that the drift of my attention was imperceptible to me. I wasn't aware I was tuning out of one conversation and into another. It just happened. This happens very easily in the spiritual realm as well. Perhaps for a while, you were very aware of God. Your spiritual perception was sharp. Insight and understanding were helping you make sense of your life. You knew that He was calling you to Himself.
Even under such circumstances, little by little, your attention drifts. Urgent things steal minutes, maybe hours, from your day. Interesting ideas call for your consideration. Soon you find yourself so weary that you can't concentrate when you do try to listen to God. Before long, you give up - not consciously - not all at once. Gradually the distractions of life draw you away and soon you have completely tuned out the voice of God in your life.
When Paul wrote his second letter to the Christians in Corinth, he presented an argument for an immediate response to God. He quotes the Old Testament prophet Isaiah’s record of God’s words to His people: “In the time of My favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Paul picks up on this and explains to his readers that the time of God’s favour for them is “now” - this very moment. After reminding them of what Isaiah had written, Paul declared: “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 2:6 NIV)
There is a sense of urgency in Paul’s writing. He knows that people have the tendency to become distracted by the things they perceive through their senses, so he calls their attention back to things that really matter - spiritual things - the things of God. So, he boldly asserts that “now” is the time when God is offering us his favour, “now” is the day in which we can find salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps this little reminder is all that it will take to get you to turn your attention to God who wants to have a conversation with you about the state of your soul. Here’s how He expressed it on one occasion. “Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NIV) God’s offer to us is not merely freedom from sin and its consequences, though that is part of it. He offers us abundant, spiritual life that goes on forever - life to the max!
Ron Hughes
© February 2008
