Pay Close Attention
The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9
I don’t know about you, but I can get overwhelmed with just one person explaining something to me. We were birthed with a precision that only the Creator of the universe could provide. Let’s discover how we might stay focused in our crazy world today (from Moving Mountains).
An Amazing Fact: Each day you are bombarded with billions of bits of sensory input, most of which you ignore. If you tried to focus on every sound, noise, light, picture, word, smell, and talk coming your way, you’d go crazy. You were created with a special filtering system in your brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which allows you to focus on what is most important.
Imagine yourself walking through a busy airport. There are hundreds of people walking past you, lots of noise from talking, announcements being made over loudspeakers, jet airplanes taking off, lights flashing, little shops advertising their goods, and small restaurants with the smell of food wafting about. How much of this do you notice? Probably not much, especially if you are focused on getting somewhere. Suddenly, over the PA system, your name is announced. Amidst all of that noise and confusion your brain picks up this one bit of information. How can it do that?
Thanks to a bundle of nerves the size of your finger that runs from your upper spinal cord deep into your brain stem, God created you with an internal secretary that help filter millions of bits of information coming at you at any given moment. The RAS helps you to be awake, to focus and to set goals. When you decide you need to get to a certain destination, this part of your brain helps keep you on track. It is also tuned into “red flags” or “danger” input that catches your attention and protects you.
The Lord has given us the ability to learn to focus on what is most important. We are not helpless victims of our environments. We can choose to think about the right things. Paul writes about this when he says, “Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
The enemy has plenty of stimuli to send your way today. What will you focus on?
Lord God, thank You for creating us with such careful attention to detail. Help us to stay focused on You and to ignore the enemy. AMEN.