Undivided Attention

Undivided Attention

“You have asked a difficult thing …….yet if you see
me when I am taken from you, it shall be yours.”
                                                 II Kings 2:10

Our ability to stay focused on what lies before us, to maintain our concentration on the tasks and goals we’re attempting to accomplish has never been more challenged. Under the guise of multi-tasking, we text and drive, talk on the cell phone and drive, read the paper and drive, not to mention the ladies who put on their make-up and drive. We watch television during dinner, use our smart-phones in the checkout line, and take walks and talk on the phone at the same time, making people who can’t see the earpiece wonder about the level of our sanity. Our ability to give someone and something our undivided attention for a sustained period of time is disappearing faster than the arctic snowcap.

After years of serving Elijah, Elisha’s receiving the prophetic mantle was dependent on one thing and one thing alone: his ability to keep his eyes on Elijah. Faithfulness in answering the call aside, a right attitude in serving another over time aside, Elisha’s ability to keep his eyes focused on Elijah and to not let anything distract him was the key to his receiving a double portion of the anointing that was on Elijah’s life. The Jordan River had just miraculously parted, others were telling him that his master was going to be taken from him that day, and, to top it all off, a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared. But none of that changed the fact that if Elisha could maintain focus, no matter what, the double portion of the anointing would be his.

With the continued assault on our attention span, the importance of our having times when we give God our undivided attention has never been clearer and more critical. Reaching the goals we have set, and living lives that accomplish our priorities will require a purposeful living that runs counter to the multi-tasking, attention sharing direction of our society. We will have to plan out how we use our time carefully and discipline ourselves to give our undivided attention to what God is calling us to do. If that means turning off the cell phone during devotions and leaving the smart phone in the car during church, the reward set before us of receiving our own personal “double portion” will make it more than worth it.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church