The Profound In The Profane

The Profound In The Profane

Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.

Psalm 46:10

A COUNSELOR ONCE TOLD ME I have ADD.

Well, I think that’s what she said. I wasn’t really paying attention.

Attention deficit disorder is an inability to maintain focus. People who struggle with it may want to keep their thoughts centered on one thing but can find themselves unable to do so. It’s been estimated that about 11 percent of kids in the United States suffer from ADD.

What I want to draw your attention to, however, is another issue. It’s far more prevalent, but almost never talked about. It seems that almost all Christians suffer from Spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder, and if you ask me, that is just SADD.^a

As our love for God grows, we want to think about him, talk to him, worship him. God promises to be with us every moment; we don’t want to ignore him. Yet many mornings I have told God I was going to do my day with him and then I have forgotten about him until it was time to go to sleep. I’m just being honest. I hate it, but it’s true.

I really want to focus on him, but I seem to be focus challenged.

And it’s not just me. It’s also the world I live in. You know, because you live in my world. We rush from place to place, media grasps for our attention at every turn, a gaggle of voices come at us from every direction.

It’s tempting to think that it would be better to just get away. To not be “in the world.” To withdraw from all the agitating interruptions so we can increase our intimacy with God.

But that’s not the way God would have it.

And when God came to our world, that’s not the way he had it.

It’s Only Appropriate

In yesterday’s devotion, I mentioned that I went on a trip to the Holy Land. One day our group walked the Via Dolorosa (“the way of suffering”), which is the path Jesus walked from his trial to his crucifixion. Along the way, there are fourteen “stations of the cross”—fourteen spots where it’s believed that something significant happened. Some of these are incidents that are recorded in the Bible (like a man named Simon being forced to carry the cross) and some are not in the Bible but have become “tradition” (like a woman named Veronica coming out of the crowd to comfort Jesus). Immediately after our walk, I wrote this:

When we began this holy walk, I was prepared to travel this path in a sacred focus.

But quickly my attention was assaulted by a myriad of distractions. My first reaction was that all of it was unbelievably inappropriate. However, I then realized that this was the path, with all the distractions, that Jesus had to walk. And that this is the path, with all the distractions, that I walk. So my attitude changed . . .

When people tried to sell me something, I thought, You know, it would be inappropriate for it not to be this way.

When all the noise pulled my attention away from Jesus, It would be inappropriate for it not to be this way.

When my view of the divine was obstructed by signs of politics and power, It would be inappropriate for it not to be this way.

When the bra and underwear stands gave the allure of sex, It would be inappropriate for it not to be this way.

When I realized that yesterday I had shopped and purchased things in a store on this holy path, without realizing at the time that I was standing in a holy place, It would be inappropriate for it not to be this way.

When my mind would not stop wandering, It would be inappropriate for it not to be this way.

Why?

Because Jesus’ life and the circumstances and sights and sounds of his life were not clean and sterile, purified from the stain of this world. He did not have holiness served to him on a silver platter.

Why would I expect my life and the circumstances and sights and sounds of my life to be any different?

Jesus, please help me to find the profound in the profane; to hear your still, small voice in the rumbling, big volume of this world; to see you everywhere I go, slipping in and out of the crowds, peeking through life’s circumstances; to know that this place, and every place, is a place to take off my sandals—for it is all holy ground.

Attention Deficit

Today you won’t be traveling the Via Dolorosa that Jesus walked, but you will be walking with Jesus.

Our goal is to glue our attention on him, to stay in constant contact with him, to enjoy and live in an uninterrupted awareness of his presence.

Yet there may not be a single moment in your day when your attention isn’t pulled away from him.

The distractions will be deafening and his voice just a whisper.

It will be unbelievably easy to miss the presence and unconditional love of God, even though that’s the most essential thing you will need today.

So join me in praying: Lord, help me to detect the holy in the hullabaloo, the profound in the profane. Help me in the speed of my day to be still and know that you are God. Heal me of my SADD.

Now What?

• Read Psalm 46.
• Take some time to sit quietly and try to become as aware as you can of God’s presence with you. How did it feel to be quiet? How might it help you to keep your focus on God’s presence for the rest of the day if you started every morning by doing that?
• God is going to be with you every moment of your next twenty-four hours. Ask him to help you to remember that and to keep your focus on him.