Attentive to Jesus

And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him. – Luke 19.48

As we near the end of Jesus earthly ministry we find the opposition get greater and the Jewish leaders are still trying to figure out what they are going to do with Him. The problem here was that Jesus was drawing huge crowds and the people were paying attention to Him. How do you deal with that?

I’ll leave that for now. What caught my attention and challenged me was the fact that the people were attentive to Jesus.It wasn’t seemingly a bid part of the narrative, but it challenged me to ask myself ‘if people look at me do they see a man who is paying attention to Jesus?’ I could ask myself the same thing. Am I paying attention to Jesus?

There is an awful lot out there that vies for our attention. I am a news junkie and can hardly stay away from the news. I like the connections I have through Facebook. It can demand my attention. I like sports and can pay strict attention for two hours to a rugby match.

But how do I do when it comes to paying attention to Jesus? Does He have my attention when I am in a difficult situation? Do I pay attention to Him when overwhelmed with concerns about the future? Does He have my attention when it comes to making decisions? Does He have my attention when I think about the spiritual and physical needs of others?

Sadly, far too often I can distracted by the other things I mentioned. Those things can appear more appealing than Jesus and my attention wanders.

Help me Lord, like these folks, to be attentive to Jesus.