We are people who live in an age of perpetual motion, and we tend to wear busyness as a badge of honor. Philosopher and theologian David Wells suggests that “the affliction of distraction” is the greatest challenge of our age, and he goes on to ask, “How, then, can we receive from Scripture the truth God has for us if we cannot focus long enough, linger long enough, to receive that truth?”
Every Christ follower, by virtue of the Spirit who dwells within us, yearns for intimate communion with God. We are made for it. Prayerfully pressing into the Word that he has given us will not only transform our hearts and fulfill our souls but will also lead to more peaceful balance in all the parts of our lives.
Wells so powerfully reminds us of this: if we are convinced that we need, above all, to know God, to know who he is in his character, that will trump every competing interest. But we have to be utterly convinced. . . . Without this ability to stop, to focus, to linger, to reflect, to analyze, to evaluate, we begin to lose touch with the God who has called us to know him.”
The ability of which Wells speaks—to stop, linger, focus, reflect, and so on, in order to know God—may be harder to come by than it’s ever been.
Tricia McCary Rhodes is the author of several books including The Wired Soul: Finding Spiritual Balance in a Hyperconnected Age. She is an adjunct professor of practical theology at Fuller Seminary. Taken from The Wired Soul copyright © 2016 by Tricia McCary Rhodes. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
