In a recent post I mentioned how the chaos of life often contributes greatly to my distraction from the things we as Christians ought to focus on. The Lord has a funny way of pressing topics home to me, often from unexpected sources. This afternoon I was listening to the White Horse Inn, a podcast discussion between a several Reformed pastors that usually focuses on church life, theology, biblical interpretation and the like. This week’s topic just happened to be “distracting ourselves to death,” somewhat of a departure from their normal subject matter. The discussion and analysis of the topic was poignant enough that I decide to lay out some of my response and share with you. Some of the statistics that they pointed out, such as our shrinking attention span, the dismal state of our education system, and the difficulty of getting people to actually work at something like reading or studying were staggering to me.
It is a sad truth that Americans have much lacking in the discipline of the mind. Ours is becoming a culture built upon distraction; our brains being trained to be comforted by a constant beck and call of background media. We tune out the people around us by turning up the music. We pass time by flipping channels, lingering only so long as something catches our eye. We distract ourselves from the focus of study by consistently checking our phones, computers, and the like.
Ha. As I started typing this my phone notified me of a text message, distracting me from the conversation I was in the midst of via Facebook chat, which was distracting me from organizing my thoughts to write this post. Three fingers pointing right back at me, mocking the one pointed at everyone else.
But that was then. I’ve reformed my ways since writing that last paragraph. I’m a new man. I’ve exited windows and closed tabs. Even muted my phone. And no, that’s not a TV that you hear in the background. Or music through the headphones.
(See what I just did there? I distracted you from the subject at hand with a comic interjection to keep your attention. I’m playing to your handicap.)
Through these headphones one of the guests on the White Horse Inn observed that the problem isn’t mainly that we get distracted so easily, but that we are becoming people who depend on distraction in order to function. Our minds become frantic for some new stimulation if the volume level stays below the peak line for too long. The long conversation must be interrupted and begun again in order for us to stay on task. The 45 minute sermon needs a video somewhere in the middle to remind people to stay awake. We need short chapters and large section headings.
Over time, this constant state of distraction cripples the brain. It prevents us from being able to dig down into things that are meant to engage us on a deeper level. Art becomes less meaningful as we lose the ability to attend to the small details. Music becomes more trivial and more people love a song for its catchy beat than its astute lyrics (observe; crank dat by soulja boy or Tonight by the Black Eyed Peas).
This is particularly relevant for we as Christians. We are to be a people who have knowledge of God’s Word and have spent the time, focus, and effort it takes to engage and wrestle with the Gospel and the Bible, having strengthened our souls and readied our minds by that engagement. We are commanded to “let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you.” There will be little richness to that field which is only lightly plowed. We are to be steadfast and regular in prayer. But how can these things be done if our minds have been shallowed by a lifetime of training that says anything which takes more than 5 minutes to understand isn’t work the effort?
It is my experience that the greatest treasures are found in Scripture, prayer, and the Christian life in general through much faithful striving. Proverbs declares that, “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” (Prov. 25:2) Oh how true this is! The times where I have come to a passage that particularly perplexed me and spent 10, 25, 30 minutes (and even longer) thinking, reading, cross-referencing, and charting out the sentence and my thoughts have brought forth some of the sweetest fruit in my study of the Word. There is glory in there; a glory fit for kings!
Yet still our entire culture stands in opposition. Daily life pours itself out like a bucket of glitter and confetti calling for our attention, yet still Christ stands and says, “I am to be your focus. Don’t set your mind on this world, set it above where I am, seated and ruling with my father and where you soon shall be.” We forget the things of God easily enough as it is. How jealous we should be to protect ourselves, our friends, and our children from things that will drag us away even more!
Go, grab the word, and dig deep in it. Capture – make – a rare moment of solitude and lift your soul to the Lord in undivided adoration. Begin to train your mind to dig the long, painful furrows of deep thought. The fruit born will be well worth the work!