Careful Attention // Ephesians 4:20-24 (MSG)

We have spent time the last couple days considering what it means to give God our attention. On Tuesday I connected loving God wholeheartedly with giving Him our full attention. Yesterday I discussed how that means we cannot take shortcuts to God. Let’s take a few minutes today looking at Ephesians 4:20-24 and the call to leave behind the old way of living: “But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you” (MSG).

The old way of living to which this passage refers is the seduction to previously perverse patterns. I suspect you know how this best corresponds to your own life. The seduction of perverse patterns is strong, and one of the ways the devil tries to get you to question God and doubt your own salvation. This is precisely why we read about the necessity of giving Christ careful attention. Whereas we looked at this from the point of view of distractions on Tuesday, I want to consider the necessity of focus today.

Focusing on Jesus can work like the blinders horses wear while racing. Focusing on Jesus can help keep your gaze directed forward while Satan and his miserable minions try to distract, deceive, discourage, and divide. The reality is — like we read in today’s passage — that we cannot feign ignorance; no, we know the right thing to do. The good news in Jesus promised that our salvation means we are a new creation. The sin-tattered reality of our past is dead and gone. You have the opportunity to start anew and let God reproduce His character in you when you are born again.

So how does this look? What blinders do you need to keep you focused on Jesus? What part of Christ’s character being reproduced in you needs to rise to the top? Pay careful attention to Jesus, fix your focus on Him, and follow the truth precisely as He leads…it will change your life!