One 90s movie we’ve enjoyed, Sister Act 2, includes a choral instructor‘s challenge to a disengaged group of high school music students: “If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you’d better wake up and pay attention!” One might easily recall the line after watching the film because a student immediately converted it to song.
This reminds me of the old joke, “When I was growing up, we were so poor, we couldn’t even pay attention!” While that line might elicit a chuckle, a book by one behavioral economist lends it surprising credibility. The author suggests that in our increasingly digital world we are so inundated with information that the rarest commodity in society today is people’s attention*.
If you were so poor you were worried about how to put food on the table, you’d pay scant attention to the quality of the food or the long-term consequences of eating cheap caloric fare. Governments around the world wrestle with such realities, and not only among the poor, as they face burgeoning public health costs stemming from obesity and its attendant disease ramifications. They need people to wake up and pay attention.
The fire hose of information and resulting battle for our attention stands at the forefront for marketers, nonprofits, governments, journalists, activists, bloggers (ahem)… and here’s a shocker—even God.
The first book of Proverbs personifies wisdom shouting in the streets for people to get a clue, but no one is paying attention. Failing to heed the voice of wisdom, they keep doing what they’re doing, and reap what they sow; their complacency destroys them. God Himself speaks to the lukewarm Laodicean church (to which many compare the western church today) saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). God Himself is knocking, trying to get our attention, and has been doing so since long before the advent of the digital age.
Think of all His appeals in Scripture—“I set before you death and life…choose life,” “Seek first the kingdom of God,” “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” “Set your affection on things above,” “Don’t be anxious about anything,” and many more. (Deut. 30:19, Matt. 6:33, 1 John 2:15, Col 3:2, Phil. 4:6). God encourages us to wake up and pay attention—to sidestep cares and distractions of every type and to focus on the eternal, which centers on relationship and fellowship with Him. He invites us, not to a boring life of religious duty, but to one of joyous faith-filled adventure and fulfillment, as we are led by the Spirit!
“Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).
*The Smarter Screen by Benartzi/Lehrer
Wonderful, JB! My friend and I were doing a Bible study this a.m. (Galatians 5) and discussing the fruits of the spirit vs. “[rotten] fruits” of the flesh, and ways to cultivate more of the former – your blog was timely and I just shared it with her. Thanks.