Jesus warns us all through the gospels to take heed on a variety of topics ranging how we worship God, how we give our tithes and offerings, how we relate with other people, how we relate with children, and about what we hear taught to us compared to what we learn from reading the scriptures. We are told to be aware of the seasons, of what we do daily, and how we even see ourselves. Jesus was trying to warn us of the spiritual danger of inattention. Even in Jesus’ day, the most observant Jews were being swayed by what was happening in Roman society to the extent we even read of one story of Jesus casting devils into a herd of swine (pigs). Jews, who by the Old Testament dietary laws were not allowed to consume the meat from pigs, saw nothing wrong with raising pigs. While this particular pig farmer probably did not see anything wrong with raising pigs to sell to the Romans or other non-Jewish residents of Judaea, there was a Levitical law, Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:14) which even in Jesus’ day the Jewish people realized that they should not do anything to anyone that would cause them to endure hardship or pain; it was also understood that one should not take advantage of someone else’s inability to do certain tasks either by the lack of knowledge or physical limitations. A faithful Jew understood that they should not do anything that could cause somebody to react in a way that would set them contrary to the laws of God. In other words, even the Old Testament calls on us to be aware of what is going on around us, how we affect others, and the impact that others can have on us.
The reality of being inattentive
I will be the first to admit that my personal relationship with Jesus has not always been what it should have been. In fact, even Jesus warns us of what can happen when we aren’t attentive: Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness (Luke 11:35). Here, the Lord is warning us to make sure our salvation is real; from 1988 until 2006 in my own life, I considered myself a Christian. Even in 2006, after the Lord brought me to a life changing event where I called upon the Lord to forgive me and deliver me from the wages of sin, I considered it as more of a rededication. I chose to be inattentive towards the pleading of the Holy Spirit pleading with me to simply acknowledge the truth of the situation I found myself in. I was miserable and within my heart was a battle between darkness and truth. It was, in the corner of my mind, easier to ignore the gentle pleadings and leading of the Holy Spirit and continue to hold fast to the lie that I had been saved since 1988. There was a real spiritual battle being waged; not over my soul, but over my obedience to the Lord and the joy and peace that He wanted to give me. There are times when we choose to be inattentive and not to face the spiritual truths about ourselves.
Not only can we be inattentive because we don’t want to face the truth about ourselves, we can also choose to be inattentive towards others because we do not want to see the spiritual truth about others. Teaching college for the past eleven years has taught me a lot about people. I have seen young men and young women stay in abusive relationships and not to be alone. Their inattentiveness in what is happening around them is driven for many reasons – they don’t want to be alone, they don’t want to admit they are in a bad relationship, they do not want to admit their parents, family, or friends were right, or any other host of reasons. Even though they are surrounded by the evidence that the relationship will get worse, they choose to be inattentive to the warnings. Their friends and family may choose to be inattentive to the warning sings as well, fearing that if they speak up things will only get worse or they will alienate their loved one.
The apostle Peter wrote, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) which is a strong warning against being inattentive. Nowhere in this verse or in any of the surrounding verses are we given permission to ever not be aware of what is going on around us. We are told to be sober, to be vigilant – in other words, to pay attention to what is going on because Satan seeks to devour us. As Christians, he may not take our souls, but he can certainly damage our testimonies to the extent we actually become a liability to the expansion of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
