Distracting Ourselves to Death

Dr. John Weaver

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You may be different, but my brain can focus on only one thing at a time, and so I find that my attention is a limited and precious thing. The writer of Hebrews reveals that our life is like a race with many burdens and sins that can distract us, but that we should run toward the goal of heaven with our attention on Jesus as the perfect guide and pacesetter for winning our spiritual race to heaven (Hebrews 12:1-2).

“. . . let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

But what does “looking to Jesus” mean?

It certainly means learning from his earthly life as revealed in the Scriptures, and there we see both Christ’s positive example – e.g., his love and wisdom – as well as the mistakes made by his disciples in the Gospels, which are there for our warning. Among these are three mistakes made by the apostle Peter on the sea of Galilee when faced with the need to focus on Jesus. I’m thankful for what Peter teaches me about how easily I am distracted away from Jesus, especially by technology.

First, in Luke 5:1-8, Peter is called to follow Jesus, but wrongly prays that Jesus depart from him. The cause for this prayer is that Peter is distracted by his own poor performance, too focused on what he has done and not done: “For I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). Making this same prideful mistake, people, especially young people, today report record levels of anxiety and depression in their lives, and many of their isolated elders report the same psychological condition.

For example, both groups suffer the effects of digital technologies that focus us on unrealistic comparison of ourselves to carefully groomed profiles of ideal bodies and lifestyles. These technologies also focus people on themselves — both their social deficiencies and their solitary skills — that too often lead them to retreat from real community and to withdraw from physical interactions. In this way, digital technology distracts us from Jesus with an unhealthy focus on ourselves, divorced from the real world.

I think of what such people, including myself, might gain from instead singing and living the truth of the ancient hymn “Non Nobis” taken from the opening lines of Psalm 115? “Not to us (Non nobis), O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” With such a song in our heart, we might gain a better understanding that our agency and value resides not primarily in ourselves or the online worlds we inhabit from our flickering screens, but rather in the reality of Jesus’ loyalty and love present with us today and our attention to Him. And, to be sure, we would surely find that Christ is as much in the computer as the rest of creation.

Second, when Peter attempts to walk to Jesus on the water, his fledgling faith stumbles through too much attention to the circumstances around him: “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”” Like the thorns that choke the believer with the cares and riches of life in Jesus’ parable of the soils (Matthew 13) or the distraction of Martha who is pulled apart by the busyness of her household in Luke 10:38-42, Peter takes his eyes off Jesus due to the challenges around him.

Similarly, a quick survey of the literature on our technological society demonstrates that we are amused and distracted to death by the overload of all that we possess and perceive in our affluent and hyperconnected culture. Distracted by all that we have, what would happen if we devotionally “fasted” from this overload and, in that sacred space and holy silence, “set our minds” on the things above and not on things that are on earth (Col 3:2)? I know Christians who seek to practice the prescription of Andy Crouch in his book, The Tech-wise Family, that we abstain from digital media for one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year! It’s at least a start in focusing less on the distractions around us that take our eyes off Jesus.

Third, after he has fished once more and eaten in a final conversation with Jesus, Peter’s interest in the future fate of his fellow apostle John leads Jesus to reprimand him for focusing too much on other people:

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”” (John 21:21-22)

Similarly, in the “attention economy” of our digital networks today, we are distracted from a focus on Jesus by the constant input of online pseudo-friends and quasi-enemies, with their petty preferences and too-often-satirical opinions dominating our daily consciousness. As a result, not only are we more divided and polarized as a society than ever before, but we are more than ever unable to think authentically for ourselves and empathize with others.

What if instead of reacting for and against digital presences, we instead practiced the habit of intentional gratitude by writing down and praying ahead of time the good in the people whom we will physically meet that day (Phil 4:8)? What if, instead of judging online profiles and being judged by pixels, we sought to serve the people in our actual lives, embodying Jesus’ sacrifice for us (Matt 25:40; 2 Cor 8:9)? This would be a life that is run with our eyes on Jesus, viewing ourselves, our circumstances, and everyone around us not as burdens and sins, but as reminders of Him who runs before us showing us the Way.