Today, I was listening to a podcast from one of my favorite church leaders/pastors, Andy Stanley, and he raised a set of two questions that I begged for me to answer in my own life. The first question was……What’s Grabbed Your Attention? The single premise that Andy was using in his message (Which was part of an overall series called Destinations) was this….
“What you pay attention to, or what grabs your attention, determines the Direction you go which ultimately determines your destination in life”
Now I know that this isn’t rocket science! It makes perfect sense that we are drawn by things that capture our attention and if we stay drawn towards them it leads us down a certain path to a destination in life.
Examples:
-When you ski if you stare at an object while going down the slope you will tend to move towards it
-When driving if you stare at the cars passing by you you will eventually move towards their direction
-If a certain Hobby grabs you and takes up much of your time it could become a full time job
What’s important to think about though is all the negative things that tend to draw our attention away from the things that really matter. Even things that are positive and good can eventually turn our attention away from the things that really matter. And before we know it, our attention has been drawn so far away from what’s important that we’ve gone down a path that we wish we never would have taken.
So, as I sit I think about this…..I cannot help but do some self-evaluation of my own life. The most precious thing in my life, outside of my friends and family, is my relationship with God. I can still remember when I finally understood and was open to what God had done for me and how much He loved me. However, I know that over the last few years I have become comfortable in my faith and that I’ve lost some of that passion to know Him and make Him known.
In many ways I feel as if I’m still heading in the right direction, but I’ve been so distracted by things that don’t matter. I’ve allowed too many things off the path to “capture my attention” and it’s taken away from me seeing the things, that are on the path, which are the most important. My next few posts will be my attempt to answer some questions posed by Andy that if all of us answered truthfully it would help us put our priorities in the right order at the very least, but it would also revolutionize our relationship with God.
