Attention And Affection - Faithful Focus in a Distracted Culture

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” (Matthew 6:19-22, ESV)

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9, ESV)

From time to time, my husband and I load up our bikes and head to Coronado Island for an afternoon date. The older we get, the rustier our bike riding skills seem to get. We are challenging the adage, “It’ll come right back like riding a bike.” Inevitably, I’ll find myself staring at the gorgeous homes and the stunning views along the bike path, only to veer into my husband’s path. It takes a few near collisions to remember that the bikes follow our eyes.

In a similar way, our affection follows our attention. What commands our eyes gives us insight into what is commanding our hearts. Jesus told his followers that the eye is the lamp of the body, thus pointing out the strong connection between our eyes and our souls. Simply put, we become like whatever we behold. This is true both in the positive and the negative. The psalmists wrote of those who practiced idolatry, “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8; Psalm 135:18). If we stare at screens, we will become like our screens. If we spend our time staring at the things of the world, we will become worldly. On the other hand, if we spend our time staring at Christ through worship and the Word, we will become more and more like Christ. As the Apostle Paul noted, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Our affection shapes our attention, and our attention shapes our affection. They exist in a feedback loop. Thus, the more we love Christ, the more we will look at him and study the Word of God which tells us what he is like. And the more we give him our attention, the more our affection for him and his ways grow. We begin to love what he loves and hate what he hates.

In a culture that is constantly bidding for our attention, we must fight to watch where our eyes wander. Do we fill up our free time scrolling on news or social media feeds, or do we use our down time to meditate on Scripture or check on other believers? Are we staring more at the news of the world or the One who made the world and sovereignly steers its events?

The good news is that attention and affection don’t begin with us. They begin with God. As the Apostle John reminded the early church, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). The more we sit under his loving gaze, the more we will want to fix our attention on him. The more we realize his affection for us, the more we will be able to offer our affection back to him.

Prayer:

Father, you are the only One who is worthy of all our attention and affection. You are perfect in all your ways and kind in all your works. You are the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who keeps his covenant. Please show us where our attention and our affection are set on lesser things. Help us to grow healthy affections for you as those who keep returning their wandering gazes back to you. Thank you that even when our attention wanders and our affection wanes, your attention is constant, and your affection remains unchanged. Thank you for your patience with us. We want to love you with our whole hearts and our fixed attention. Amen.