Wed.6.17.15...Pay Attention...Prov.22:17-29

When was the last time you were in a car accident or ran out of gas while driving? Hopefully, it's been a while. When was the last time you missed an exit? Since I drive a lot, that happens from time to time. Why? It's often the same reason people run out of gas- not paying attention soon enough. Many accidents happen because of distracted driving. People weren't paying attention to the road. In today's passage (Prov. 22:17-29) it begins by calling us to pay attention to something far more important than the road, our gas gauge or the exit signs. We are called by our Mentor and Father to pay attention to his wise words. This is so important that he goes on for five verses talking about the importance and benefits of paying attention to God's word. This is not the first time our Father has called us to pay attention to his words-
"Listen my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding" 4:1.
"My son, pay attention to what I say, listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them" 4:20-22.
"My son, pay attention to my wisdom" 5:1.
"Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say" 7:24.

Here is a portion of our Father's exhortation to us today-
"Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips" 22:17-18. This reminds me of what you are doing. You're not just reading the Bible and quickly forgetting what you read. You are writing down your MP3 verses, reviewing them and passing them on to others. This is no small thing to God. Jesus declared in his Sermon on the Mount, "Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven" Mt.5:19. You are practicing that and other GREAT things and it shows on the GREAT scoreboard. As you share the word with your family you are fulfilling God's great mandate for fathers- "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up" Dt.6:6-7. I know a lot of Father's Day messages include that exhortation, and I'm sure there are a lot of men who hang their heads, having failed to do that. But now you can do that so naturally. "Hey, check out this powerful verse I got today. Why do you think this is so important?" (That's just one of many discussion starter questions you could use. Here's a couple others- What would it be like if no one followed this? How could we better live this out?) 

Paying attention to the word of God is not easy; we have an enemy who seeks to distract us. Did you ever think that might be part of our struggle at times to be unstoppable in God's word? Such distractions from giving our attention to the priority of God's word is nothing new. Consider the plea of a famous preacher who lived in the mid 300s. "Please listen to me, you are not paying attention. I am talking to you about the Holy Scriptures, and you are looking at the lamps and the people lighting them. It is very frivolous to be more interested in what the lamplighters are doing...After all, I am lighting a lamp too, the lamp of God's word." John Chrysostom. His words remind me of Peter's- "we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place--until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts" 2 Pet.1:19.

Why is it that some Christians drift away from God and God's people? They don't keep paying careful attention to the word. "We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away" Heb.2:1. By God's grace, so long as you are in M3, that won't happen to you. You will get ongoing encouragement to pay attention to God's word. And we will call the brother who starts to drift. We will "encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" Heb.3:13. It's been said, "This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book." But we are reminded by that previous verse and others that we also need to be with a group of people who will encourage us to hold firmly to the trustworthy message. The Christian life was never designed by God to be a Sunday morning spectator sport. That's why I'm so glad you are on the field, in the action, advancing the ball, advancing God's kingdom. You are paying attention! 

Here's a picture I took recently of a car accident near my house. The police officer said he had to be doing over 50 miles an hour down Western Ave. He must have not been paying attention. 

There were no other cars that caused him to drift from the other side of the street. The light pole stopped him from crashing through the windows of a building a few yards away. 

1.- I've been in a few bad car accidents. (One was my fault. I was not paying attention.) How about you? What happened? Anybody not paying attention?

"When I die, I want to go peacefully like my grandfather did– in his sleep. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.”

2.- Read through Prov.22:17-29 and pick out a verse that grabs your attention and then share it and some of your thoughts with us. Write it down on your MP3 and look for opportunities to share it with others. ("Have all of them ready on your lips" Prov.22:18.)

I have never had anyone refuse one of our beautiful Greatest Minimovies cards until yesterday. It was all my fault. I didn't begin with any small talk. The dude was grooving to music under his headphones while waiting for the bus. Then once I started trying to signal that I wanted to give him the card, I realized he was mentally impaired. Only a dummy would have tried to pass out a card in that situation. (You can learn a lot from a dummy:) Slow down and pay attention Dave.