It's confession time. I have Attention Deficit Disorder. I have never seen a doctor about it. I have never been diagnosed with it. I have never had anyone stand up and accuse me of ruining a project because they discerned that was the critical problem. No, this is a matter of self-diagnosis.
Recently High Point University hosted Malcolm Gladwell on their campus for a series of lectures and discussions. Gladwell has written four books and is currently on his fifth. They are Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw. I have read the first three and hope soon to begin on the fourth. They are an excellent read, all non-fiction.
Enough of the commercial for Gladwell's books. In an on-stage discussion, Gladwell made the comment that his father, a mathematics professor, was not a driven man putting in eighteen hour work days. Rather he was a focused man who made the most of every minute he was involved in a project. He might work two hours, take a brief break, work two more hours, and then take another break. During those two hour sessions, not even screaming in his ear could destroy his concentration. He was focused.
Oh, to be so gifted! A car drives by on the highway outside my office and I get distracted. I hear the phone ring in my administrative assistant's office and I get distracted. My mind wanders to my calendar suddenly, and I wonder if I have forgotten an appointment or a phone call I was to have made. I have no focus!
This holds just as true for my spiritual life as for my office work. I call it PADD, Prayer Attention Deficit Disorder. I know I am not alone in this having heard other people's confessions on the subject, but it's still my problem. The world has a way of distracting me from focusing upon deepening my relationhsip with God. The aching in the soul gets lost in the growling of the belly. I lose focus.
Jesus had a word of encouragement for those seeking focus that's recorded in the sixth chapter of Matthew, verse 33, "As a priority desire to possess His Kingdom and His righteousness..." (my translation) The Kingdom of God was the favorite topic of Jesus in his preaching. When he said that obtaining it was to be THE priority in the life of one of his followers, he was not only teaching it, he was also living it. Focusing upon the Kingdom of God was to be the priority for every believer.
Focusing upon the Kingdom must be the priority of every believer and every church and every association of churches as they seek to be faithful in their obedience to their divine calling. Nothing can become more important than living out the priorities of the Kingdom of God. Its nature and calling must be at the heart of every proclamation, shape every effort of ministry, and become the goal of every spiritual seeker. To be distracted from this is to lose sight of why Jesus came, died, and was raised from the dead.
The individual believer focuses upon living out the Kingdom in this world by living out the two Great Commandments (Matthew 22). The local church focuses upon living out the Kingdom by using its resources to make the love of God real in its community and to the extent it can around the world. The local association of churches must use its resources to strengthen its members in their efforts to fulfill their God given calling.
Focus keeps the main thing the main thing. Focus allows us to direct our energies to the real priorities of life. Focus allows us to work toward goals and see progress being made. Making the effort to focus helps overcome ADD whether in the secular or spiritual realm. Focus under the control of the Holy Spirit can change the world.
