Spiritual Reality Check for Teensنموونە

TUNING OUT vs. TUNING IN

What are you focusing on during church? Is it that cute boy or girl a few rows up? Are you deciding where to go for lunch after the preacher says his final “Amen”? Or maybe it’s all those other apps you have running in the background while you’re pretending to read your Bible.

What you’re probably not focusing on is God.

You’re distracted. And you live in an age of distractions. Whether it’s instant notifications, 24-hour news media, or streaming on-demand, your limited teen attention span is being pulled in a dozen different directions at any given moment. Add to that mix hormones and puberty, and it’s a wonder you can focus on anything at all! Even in the spiritual escape that church is meant to be, it’s almost impossible to tune everything out.

Nevertheless, God demands your attention – and He has every right to do so.

Rather than spending so much time trying to get noticed by the opposite sex, God asks you to “be still” and take notice of Him. (Psalm 46:10) He encourages you to worry less about earthly concerns like your next meal or social outing, and more about the forever-after He’s preparing for you. (Colossians 3:2) Most of all, He wants you to stop fixating on the latest gossip and social trends – to tune out all the pop-ups and push notifications – and instead focus on all that is “true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable” in the world. (Philippians 4:8)

If you’re willing to do those things for Him – if you’ll shut out all the worldly distractions and focus on your Heavenly Father – then He promises to give you everything you could ever hope for and more. (Matthew 6:31-33)

| SPIRITUAL REALITY CHECK | Whether your phone is a tool or a temptation, a stepping stone or a stumbling block, all depends on you. If your device (yes, even the one on which you’re reading this devotional) is distracting you from God, then put it down right now! Anything that takes your focus away from your Heavenly Father, or from time spent serving His Kingdom or studying His Word, is an “idol.” And God made His position on idolatry pretty clear in the Second Commandment.