Friday-Pay Attention

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

2 Peter 1:18,19

Some people have a great gift. They can pay attention. They can stay focused on something no matter what’s going on around them. The TV can be blasting, and people are talking, but they keep their focus on what’s most important. On what they’re supposed to be working on.

Thomas Edison could do this. He’d tune out the world and just think about one thing at a time. He could think and read with total concentration. What was his secret that allowed him to invent the first economically practical light bulb and his other 1,093 patents? He took what everyone thought of as a disability and thought of it as a blessing. He took his deafness and turned it into a superpower.

I am so envious of people like this. I have the attention span of a squirrel. My eyes jump all over the place, from one thing to another. My head moves from right to left to follow whatever’s in front of me. My brain flies from one thought to another, and they’re never even remotely connected.

Peter is calling his readers and us to stop jumping from one spiritual topic to another. He’s telling us to pay attention to something that’s very important. Something that needs all our focus. And what is it?

It’s not just another prophecy or dream. The world and internet are filled to overflowing with these messages. If you’re at all plugged into spiritual things, you’ll receive about a hundred messages a day that promise new revelations. New and great blessings. Immediate victory over your enemies.

But Peter’s asking you and me to focus and pay attention to something specific. A prophetic message that’s not just a little bit reliable, but completely reliable. It’s firm and dependable. Because it’s secure, it’s not going anywhere.

Not on your life. You come prepared with ropes and bungee cords. You carefully put the Christmas tree on the car with the trunk facing forward. You tie it down to the front and back of the car. You might even cover the tree with a blanket and then wrap it with your rope.

Peter gives us four very important ideas about this prophetic message that is something completely reliable. We would do well to listen to him and apply them to our lives too.

• Pay attention. We need to be presently and actively holding onto it. This isn’t something that we hold onto with our little pinky. We start by holding onto it with all our might and with both hands. We need to dig our feet into firm ground, so we don’t slip.

• Light shining. The insight and light from this message is presently and actively shining. It’s not getting dim and it isn’t flickering. It’s like a bright spotlight that’s focused on exactly what everyone needs to be paying attention to.

• Day dawns. There is a special day coming. It’s not just any day, it’s the most special day of all. On this day, it’s going to be like the sun breaks through the clouds that darken our lives. All the gloominess of this life will suddenly vanish just like darkness instantly leaves when a light is turned on.

• Morning star. Yes, there is a morning star in the sky. It’s actually the planet Venus that appears in the eastern sky before sunrise. But this morning star is the hope that we hold onto when the cold and darkness of life just seems to go on forever and ever.

All four of these point to the day that Jesus returns. That’s the completely reliable prophetic message. Just like they saw Jesus be lifted up into the sky, he will one day return in the same way[1]. This is the thing that we need to be paying attention to.

As life seems to go from bad to worse, and the anger over evil gets more and more intense, we need to remember that Jesus is coming back. And when he comes, he’s going to take care of everything. He will punish the people that have hurt us and our loved ones. He will bring ultimate justice to the world. He will bring his peace.

What makes this so important is that the return of Jesus gives us the freedom to live life the way God made us for. We were never made to retaliate, that’s God’s business. Our job is to love God and people[2]. And yes, this includes loving our enemies[3]. We are to love and serve everyone. No one is too far gone. No one is beneath us. We weren’t worthy of God’s forgiveness, and neither is anyone else. Job One for you and me is to pay attention to all God has done for us in and through Jesus. Only this will free us from our guilt and shame, empowering us to reach out and lovingly serve everyone God brings in front of us. So, let’s go.

Noodling Questions

• Who are the people that God has put in front of you? Describe them.

• How easy or hard is it to pay attention? Give three examples.

• What’s stopping you from paying attention to the return of Jesus?

[1] Acts 1:10,11

[2] Mark 12:30,31

[3] Matthew 5:44