Paying Attention
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed. . .” (He 2:1). Essentially, the writer tells us we ought to pay careful attention. If there is one thing that seems near impossible in our day, it is paying careful attention. Our attention spans grow ever shorter in the hastening technological media-fest that is the day we live in. We do not have time to do anything, always buzzing about.
Pastors are often asked deep, complex questions that have major life implications only to find the questioner wants a complete answer in 60 seconds or less. Are our souls worth only 60 seconds of our time, while the rest is spent on the body—eating, drinking, recreation, etc. Able men may have searched the Scriptures for years and written volumes covering the question, but today we want the Reader’s Digest version because we do not have time for the heavy thinking required.
In an interesting irony of our day, folks who can hardly sit through a 30-minute sermon can sit motionless for 2 or 3 hours and watch the latest movie. Children who cannot make it through a service can sit with rapt attention watching a computer or video screen for hours.
Are we paying attention? Are we giving careful consideration to matters of eternal consequence? Or, are we hypnotized by the techno-media world with little time for God’s Word? “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (He 2:1).
