Protecting Your Attention in a Distracted World

I recently caught myself picking up my phone for absolutely no reason. I wasn't expecting a call, I wasn't responding to a message, and there was nothing particularly important that I needed to check. Yet somehow, there I was, phone in hand, scrolling.

I suspect I am not alone.

We live in an interesting time. There has probably never been another generation with this much information readily available to us. Within seconds, we can know what is happening in another country, see what an old friend ate for dinner, check the score of a football game, respond to an email from work, watch a sermon, check our bank account, and somehow end up watching a video we never intended to watch in the first place.

There is nothing inherently wrong with most of these things. The problem is that everything is fighting for our attention.

And our attention is finite.

Proverbs 4:25-27 says, “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

There is something here for the modern man. Look straight ahead. In other words, focus.

One of the biggest threats to purpose may not be failure. It may simply be distraction. The devil doesn't necessarily have to convince you to abandon what God has called you to do if he can keep you busy enough that you never get around to doing it.

Think about Nehemiah.

He had received the assignment to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. While doing the work, Sanballat and Geshem repeatedly tried to get him to come down and meet with them. Nehemiah understood what was happening and responded with words that I think many of us need today:

“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.” — Nehemiah 6:3

What a statement.

I cannot come down.

Not because the other thing is necessarily unimportant, but because what God has assigned me is more important.

As men, there will always be another meeting, another opportunity, another notification, another sporting event, another business idea, another group chat, another show to watch, and another person needing something from us. Some of these things are good things. But good things can still distract us from God things.

This is where intentional living becomes important.

If Faith, Fitness, Family, Focus, Finance and Friendship are truly important to us, our calendars and attention should eventually provide some evidence. It would be difficult for me to say my family is a priority if they consistently receive whatever attention is left after everything else. Likewise, I cannot say that growing spiritually matters to me while giving God five distracted minutes at the end of a day in which my phone received several hours.

Side note: I am speaking to myself here too.

Perhaps protecting our focus doesn't require some dramatic life overhaul. Maybe it starts with putting the phone away during dinner. Praying before checking notifications in the morning. Blocking an hour to work on the assignment God has placed on your heart. Exercising without scrolling between every set. Saying no to an invitation because your wife and children need you home. Or simply sitting quietly enough to hear yourself think and God speak.

Jesus Himself regularly withdrew from crowds to pray. If Jesus understood the importance of separating Himself from noise, I don't know why we believe we can live permanently surrounded by it.

There will always be something trying to pull us away from what matters. The question is whether we will allow it.

This week, identify one distraction that has been receiving more of your attention than it deserves. Put a boundary around it. Then take that time and deliberately give it back to something that matters.

Your attention is one of your most valuable resources.

Spend it on purpose.

Best wishes,

L.B.