The average attention span of the typical human being in America is 8.25 seconds. That is just mind-blowing to me. Sadly, I’m guilty as well.
A few weeks ago a member of my church came to me and said, ‘I was bothered in our worship service today.’ I was concerned, and thought “Man, I hope I have not offended this person.” My concerns were briefly relieved when this person told me I had not offended them. Then my heart sank because of what this person said next to me. They told me, “I looked around during the sermon today and I was extremely discouraged to see so many people on their phones, not engaged in the sermon.” I thought to myself, “maybe they were on their Bible apps.” This was not the case. This person informed me they saw many scrolling social media rather than listening and being engaged. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. This is something that is happening all over at most churches in 2023.
When the smart phone came out in the earlier part of the 2000’s, it was clear this was going to be a wonderful thing. There were promises that this new device would bring us closer together and we would do more great things now that it was part of our world. I don’t want to be a “Debbie Downer,” but the greatest impact that the smart phone has had on humanity has largely been a negative one. If you don’t believe me, just take your child’s mobile device away from them. They will go through withdrawal symptoms like a drug addict going through detox. They will transform into wicked, hellish beings. If you demand that people entering a meeting hand over their mobile phones for the duration of the meeting, people lose their minds. I once made a post on social media that we should leave our mobile phones in the car when we go into church. People got so angry in the comment section I was forced to turn off the comments. Our mobile phones are fracturing our communities of faith. They are not helping us. They are distracting us from what is most important. We have built a society that doesn't connect, even though we think we're connecting. This is exactly what the Enemy wants. His desire is to distract us as long as he possibly can in order to keep us from truly understanding who Jesus really is and what his mission for us really is all about.
I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now. It causes me a great heartache because most of us in the church do not realize we are in the middle of a war. Many are sitting in fox holes, not paying attention to the advancement of the enemy. Instead, we are preoccupied by the shiny trinkets laying on the ground. Our eyes should be on the horizon waiting and watching for movement.
Leonard Ravenhill wrote in his book Why Revival Tarries, “Oh that believers would become eternity-conscious! If we could live every moment of every day under the eye of God, if we did every act in the light of the judgment seat, if we sold every article in the light of the judgment seat, if we prayed every prayer in the light of the judgment seat, if we tithed all our possessions in the light of the judgment seat, if we preachers prepared every sermon with one eye on damned humanity and the other on the judgment seat—then we would have a Holy Ghost revival that would shake this earth and that, in no time at all, would liberate millions of precious souls.”
As a follower of Christ, I am constantly burdened for the lost. As a pastor, I’m burdened for the saved, too. I want every saint, every believer, to come to know Jesus more intimately. That they would grow in their knowledge of the love of God. When we gather for corporate worship, we must guard this time, guard it against distractions. The enemy wants to distract us so that we might miss a blessing from Jesus. He wants to distract us so that we might miss the truth of God’s word. He is even so foolish to think that he could make us miss heaven all together.
My challenge for all of us is when we make plans to attend a worship service, GO ALL IN! Pray for your church, your Sunday school teacher, your music leader, and all your elders and pastors as you’re heading to church. Leave your phones in the car, pick-up an actual Bible and take that into church. Take a pen and a notebook into church with you. When the pastor says ‘turn with me in your Bible,’ actually turn there expecting to hear from God. Write down what you learn. Be engaged in the service. Sing loudly, even if you can’t sing. SING! PRAY! Pray as if your life depended on it. Ask God to fall on you in a fresh new way as you open and read His word. Make the commitment to not allow distractions to rule you as you come into the corporate gathering of the saints of God. Make worship and hearing from God a priority and who knows, we just might experience what brother Ravenhill talked about, “then we would have a Holy Ghost revival that would shake this earth and that, in no time at all, would liberate millions of precious souls.”
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