Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1 Timothy 4:13
Kids love attention, don’t they? There does come a time when children need to learn to be alone, to entertain themselves, and to fall asleep on their own. But obviously kids also need lots of snuggles, conversations, stories, and interactive play.
When we give anyone our attention, whether it be a child, a spouse, a neighbor, or a stranger, we are saying to them that they matter to us. And we are acknowledging within ourselves that they matter to God. Our instinct may be to get away from annoying people as fast as possible, but sometimes we need to give them some attention too. Jesus would.
In fact, the greatest thing you can give a person is probably your attention. And in the internet age, as attention becomes more difficult to give, it becomes more valuable.
I won’t go on and on about short attention spans and screen addiction, or about how so many young people don’t know how to make eye contact or interact normally with actual human beings. I will say that countless times my kids have come to me and talked to me while I typed away at my computer, barely even looking up at them, only half listening. If I’m to rebuke anyone on this subject, it can only be myself.
But even if we take computers and cell phones out of the picture, modern life for most people is so very, very busy, and we have spread ourselves so thin, that maybe nothing gets our best efforts. We divide our attention like cracker crumbs over the top of a casserole. Sometimes that’s what life feels like— like we’re strewing crumbs all over the place. That might be okay for feeding birds, but you wouldn’t feed your child a handful of cracker crumbs. Activities like church works probably deserve more substance, too. Again, I am as guilty as anyone.
All of this leads to the question— how much attention am I giving to God? Now, if you’re quite involved in your church, it can be easy to quickly answer that you’re giving God a lot of attention. But let’s dig deeper. How often are we busy, screen-addicted, food-addicted, leisure-addicted people giving God our full attention? Three times a week? Even at church I have to confess I am often distracted. I take notes during classes and sermons and that helps a lot, believe me. I highly recommend it. But it is actually very easy to sing while thinking about a to-do list for the afternoon. It is easy to bow your head and close your eyes during a prayer and think about that argument you had three days ago with So-and-So.
So…. how often are we giving God our full attention?
Paul told Timothy to give attention to reading (1 Timothy 4:13). Reading the Bible is one way to give God our attention. Could we also spend time alone praying and singing to God? Outside the setting of group worship, when it’s just God and me, sometimes it’s easier to pray and sing “with the spirit and with the understanding,” (1 Corinthians 14:15).
One more confession: even in my quiet time with God, I am tempted to be very busy. I love to study and to write, and I feel those activities are productive and help me grow as a Christian. But sometimes, I really just need to stop everything. Everything. And just give God my full attention. It may be the most valuable thing I have to give, and it shows Him that He matters to me.
As children learn how to be alone, we have opportunity to teach them that they’re never really alone. God is always with them. And we need to know how to be alone with God, too.
Maybe you don’t need to do this, but sometimes I need to adapt Habakkuk 2:20 for myself:
The LORD is in His holy temple.
Let [Christie] keep silence before Him.
Dear God, forgive me for too many words and too many activities. Help me, Father, to slow down and wait for You. Teach me how to give my best attention to the things that truly matter. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
by Christie Cole Atkins
Related Reading:
Walk Worthy 