Pay Attention!
I read an old article of how an unemployed cleaning woman from St. Louis had noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer, the bees continued to fly in and out of the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing flock of bees. Yes, I know, bees don’t live in a flock. Evidently, they live in a hive. Anyhow, the whole attic area eventually became a hive, and the ceiling of her second-floor guest bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect.
We often fail to pay attention and consider the gradual, cumulative effect of accumulated sin in our lives.
Ecclesiastes 3 talks of how there is a time for most everything!
I believe that now is the time that we (His church) pays attention to some marchin’ orders that Jesus gave after He had risen and before He ascended. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (nasb)
If you are a believer and follower of Christ, then you have been given this instruction. We need to be attentive to what the Lord is teaching us, but even if you don’t think the preacher’s preachin’ pertains to you; please don’t distract others who may need to hear it. Please understand and receive this. God wants to speak to us. He uses the preacher, the Sunday School teacher, and others to convey the message. Some of you may still be under covid restrictions, but you will be back in church soon.
Now, I know that sometimes you don’t get much out of the sermon. But with a little prayer and effort on our part, we can improve the listening experience for ourselves and others in church.
I would encourage you to go read Acts 20 and see how Paul had difficulties keeping their attention.
Try these “hearing aids”:
Get more sleep. The Sunday morning service is not for sleeping; the night before is. This requires planning, especially for young people who like to use Saturday night as an opportunity to stay up as late as possible.
Sit closer to the front. Almost without exception, the best listeners are up front. There are some valid reasons to be in the back, but just because your Baptist don’t get it.
Minimize distractions. Practicing social distancing works here as well. If you must, then find a better place to sit. If your children are the problem, then try stirring up their seating order.
Use your Bibles. It is difficult to follow the pastor’s line of thought without seeing the Bible text before you. First, bring your Bible. Try not to use the cell phone version, but the one bound by a cover. And encourage your family to read along and take notes.
And for some, you may not be meeting in your church building, yet. You may be hangin’ out in the kitchen or den “watching church” on a live feed. It’s so easy to get distracted. Just pay attention. Don’t watch tv and church at the same time.
Some of you may also be meeting your small groups with something like a zoom meeting. Don’t do like I did the first time, go into the meeting having some idea about how the app works. God can definitely use the internet with its facebook, youtube, along with zoom and other apps for His purpose.
Choose Jesus, choose life and let your light shine! And find a Bible believin’ church where you “fit in” and know, grow, and follow Christ! Tell others! See y’all at church and keep PRAYIN’ for HIS HARVEST! And pray for rain!