Hey you. Thank you for being here. I hope you are well and hopeful in this season. So much happens on a regular that threatens to choke out hope, joy and peace but praise be to God, while the world may not always offer that solace, God does. He steadily provides all that is needed for the heart and mind to flourish, and it all begins with our gaze. That presents a perfect transition into today’s blog post, so let’s get right into it.
I think you would agree with me that the mind is a powerful thing. Moves we make are often birthed from a thought. However, not every thought necessarily translates into activity. A quick consultation with Mr. Google revealed that some studies estimate humans have thousands of thoughts a day, while others suggest tens of thousands. Whether the number is 6,000 or 60,000, the conclusion is the same: we do a lot of thinking as humans. The human mind is constantly in motion, and if thoughts shape lives, then what shapes our thoughts matters deeply.
Thoughts that influence us do so because we give them attention. When we have ideas we want to build on, we employ focus and attention toward them because we intend to grow them into something bigger. Ultimately, the investment of attention always yields a return. In some cases, that return is action (you may start bringing that idea to life by building). Sometimes, it is emotion (as you ponder, you recognize your feelings towards it). Other times, it becomes a notion (a belief we develop over time). Whatever the outcome, one thing is clear: attention is never neutral, it yields a return. Perhaps, that is why the phrase “pay attention” was coined… because we buy things with it. It’s a cost that we pay for affection.
Attention is never neutral. It always yields a return.
Every day, ambitious corporations spend billions of dollars for mere seconds of our focus. The thing we so casually allocate by the second is the subject of strategic meetings held in boardrooms religiously. The question being asked is always the same – How do we get them to pay attention? Social media platforms measure engagement because attention determines success of campaigns. Livelihoods are built on the promise of your focus. Entire industries survive because they can keep your eyes fixed long enough to influence your thoughts, habits, and desires. Attention is currency. Look no further for proof of this than advertisements. The streaming services we pay for entertainment now make trades involving our attention. Fifteen-minute videos on YouTube can contain multiple ads. Streaming platforms continue to find new ways to monetize the attention we freely grant them access to. And if we cannot stand the interruption, we pay even more for “premium.” Think about that for a moment, we now pay to protect our own attention. That should tell us how valuable it really is.
Attention is currency.
The battle for attention goes deeper than advertisements and algorithms. In the contention for your focus is a competition for your thought life, even if only for a moment. Every day, countless thoughts vie for room to be incubated in the womb of attention. Because what we repeatedly behold eventually begins to shape what goes on within us…it shapes who we become. While our minds heavily influence how we live, what we allow our gaze to rest upon often heavily influences our minds. Where we look affects how we move.
Thoughts are incubated in the womb of attention.
In many ways, the digital age has trained us to struggle with sustained focus. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tune our hearts toward a person, task, or goal without trying to run concurrent threads in our minds. Social media platforms have conditioned many toward instant gratification. We now instinctively screen things based on whether they immediately stimulate us, entertain us, or emotionally reward us. Tell me, when was the last time you voluntarily sat through something that did not appear interesting within the first twenty minutes? The issue is sometimes we miss things carrying genuine value because they do not immediately entertain us. Growth rarely competes with entertainment. Not well at least.
Let me be clear, the implication is not that one must remain rigidly glued to a single task at all times. In fact, excessive fixation can even edge God out because divine interruptions are often His style. Instead, it means that we must not become more fixated on tasks than we are on a person – the person of Jesus. When our attention is fixed on God, even when the “what” changes, we remain anchored to the same “Who”.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” (Mat 22:37)
The truth is that the Lord has always desired both our attention and our affection. In the call to love the Lord with our hearts and minds, the heart speaks of affection while the mind speaks of attention. Meditation itself reveals the connection between attention and intimacy. Scripture repeatedly calls us to meditate on the things of God because sustained attention is one of the pathways through which affection grows. I heard someone aptly say, “The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” Intimacy takes intentionality and there’s simply no going around it.
Some time ago, I heard Minister Dunsin Oyekan say something so simple yet profound that stuck with me ever since. He said: “It takes time to host God.” Certainly, he was not speaking about God’s omnipresence, but His manifest presence. He referenced the intentional and precise instructions given to the Israelites concerning the construction of the temple. One thing Scripture repeatedly reveals is that worship cannot simply happen however we choose. The “how” matters. Worship must happen on God’s terms, and that understanding changes everything. While it takes time to cultivate an environment that is conducive to the presence of God, time alone is not enough. Time without attention can still miss His movement. A person can spend hours physically present while the heart and mind remain elsewhere.
It takes attention to know God, and it takes affection to grow in God. This may be why patience and perfection are so deeply connected. We cannot afford to subvert process because transformation often requires sustained focus. The proof of commitment is investment, and whatever consistently receives our attention will eventually begin shaping our desires, convictions, and direction.
The proof of commitment is investment.
It takes attention to know God.
It takes affection to grow in God.
I’ll wrap up with this – there is a battle for your attention because there is a war for your affection. So be careful with what consistently occupies your gaze. Be careful with what you repeatedly entertain. Be careful with what you continually feed. Because what you sow in attention, you will eventually reap in affection.
What you sow in attention, you will eventually reap in affection.
I hope today’s blog post blessed you.
I love you but God Loves You Infinitely More ✨
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