Paying Attention

As someone who tends to spend a lot of time focussed on my own thoughts, I’m known for not noticing the details of the world around me. It’s easy to miss things when I’m distracted and not paying attention. One of the great things about moving to Emerald is that the surroundings are so beautiful that they draw me to look around and pay attention every time I go out!

On Sunday I said in my sermon that I believe that the central thing we need to learn as Christians is how to pay attention to Jesus in every part of our lives. One of our great failings as human beings is our forgetfulness and distraction when it comes to God. The reality is that God has made us in such a way that we have a natural awareness of his existence and goodness. All we have to do is be aware. Everywhere we look, whether in the world around us, in our relationships, or in ourselves, God is present and at work. But we get distracted, we turn away from him, and fall into all sorts of troubles. We need to come back to our home. In Jesus, God has entered the world in a new way, and is calling us back to the way we were supposed to be. Jesus himself was always aware of God the Father in everything that he did. He has given us the power by his Spirit to do this as well.

My encouragement for today would be to practice being aware of God throughout the day, whenever you can. When you meet someone, when you go to a new place, or when you have a quiet moment to yourself. This is one of the great disciplines of the Christian life.

-Andrew-