"Undivided Attention"

By: Zach Wood

Psalm 86:11

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

 

 

 

"Please give me your undivided attention!"  I heard this phrase many times throughout my childhood in school classrooms.  For some reason, I think the teachers sometimes got this funny idea that we were distracted by other things than what they were teaching and trying to tell us.  There were specific times, however, when the phrase was directed solely my way.  Those were embarrassing times.  The teacher was probably trying to enforce and rule or teach me something valuable about life, but I was probably more interested in passing notes or daydreaming about something else. 

 

Do you have some of the same memories from your childhood?  We can often think back and chuckle at those times because we were children trying to learn and deal with life around us.  I might add, teachers are not the only ones to try enforcing rules or teach us something new.  Parents often tell their children, "Please give me your undivided attention!"  Translation, "I'm trying to get something through to your brain, so please make sure you are listening!"  I'm sure for you parents out there, you never have said this to your children.  Yeah, right!  

 

We need to give our undivided attention to many things in our daily lives.  Whether it's listening to some important news on TV, listening to a friend or watching for the flagman to wave us through traffic construction, we need to give our attention completely to the situation.  There are times that if we fail to give heed to directions or some bit of helpful information, we are lost as to what to do.  That can be both embarrassing as well as dangerous.  These times can be humorous or even frightening.  

 

God wants to have our undivided attention in life.  He wants to teach us His way and not let us get caught up in the distractions and ways of this world.  It happens to us all.  We get distracted and pulled this way and that way.  However, if we take time to study His Word and hide His Word in our hearts with constant prayer, we will become more in tuned to what He has to say and less of what the world has to say to us.  It is kind of like listening to a fuzzy radio station signal.  How many of you would sit there in your car and try to listen to two different music stations coming in at the same time?  I do not know about you, but that would totally drive me crazy!  It is so hard to listen to two different things at one time.  If you are really good at doing that, I commend you.  However, for most of us, that simply is not a talent.  We need to be tuned completely into the frequency of God's communication to us.  

 

He wants our undivided attention.  He wants our undivided heart.  He wants our undivided service.  Either we pay attention to Him or we follow the world.  So the question for each one of us is, "Does He have your undivided attention?"