ATTENTIVENESS

 

DOWNLOAD

The PDF of this Lesson...

With a Game (in Various PDFs), the Quiz, and Verses to Memorize


Showing you care by being aware of what others are doing or saying.

 

Have you ever seen an animal “perk” up its ears?  A deer may be grazing in a field when all of a sudden it raises its head and lifts its ears.  He will listen intently because he senses danger.  He gives all of his attention to the noise that he has heard to see if he should run or not.

Your dog might do the same thing.  He will cock his head to one side, perk up his ears and give his full attention to whatever it is that he hears.  After a while he might put his head down again, or he might go barking at what he thinks is trouble.

We should be attentive too.  Many times, we daydream in class and we miss what our teacher is saying.  Then when we go to take a test, we don’t do well because we weren’t paying attention.  Other times our mom or dad might tell us what they want done, but we only half hear them and then fail at the task.  Sometimes not paying attention can get us hurt.  If we are crossing a busy street and aren’t attentive, we might be hit by a car.

Have you ever been talking to a person and they aren’t paying attention?  They keep looking away or at their watch.  They might say “yeah” or “right” once in a while, but you know that they aren’t listening.  How does that make you feel?  You might be angry at them for being rude or you might get frustrated because you feel like you are not important to them since they can’t even give you a few minutes of their time.

I wonder if God feels that way.  He wants us to know Him and He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible, but many times people don’t give Him any attention at all.  They just keep on living the way they want and ignore the God Who created them.

Jesus told a story one day about a farmer who went out to plant his fields.  As he threw out his seed it landed in different spots.

The first landed on hard, packed down soil.  The seed never sank down into the earth to grow, but instead birds came and ate it up.

Other seed took root for a short time, but when the sun came out and the tiny plants tried to send down roots for water, they hit rock.  So, without water they dried up and died.

Some of the seed did take root and began to grow, but it was soon surrounded by weeds.  These weeds took all of the nourishment from the soil, so the plant was very weak.  It did not produce any fruit.

Thankfully some of the seed fell on good ground.  The plants grew and grew, and some produced 30, 60 or 100 times what they began with.  The farmer was happy to see such growth!

Jesus story is really about how people listen to His Word.  The seed in the story represents God’s Word.

The hard soil stands for those who don’t even hear God’s Word.  They are not paying attention when the preacher or teacher is sharing the good news about Jesus.  Jesus said that the birds represent Satan, who distracts hearers, so they don’t listen.

The second soil, rocky, stands for those who hear and at first give God their attention, but then troubles come along, or people make fun of their thoughts about God, so they quit thinking about Him. 

The third soil, which is weedy, stands for people who receive Jesus but after a while they get busy with life and they ignore God’s Word.  They don’t read their Bibles or attend church much, so God’s Word has little effect on them.  Even though they have Jesus as their Savior, they live any way they want and ignore God speaking to them.

The last soil stands for those who REALLY listen to God.  They gladly receive Him and then decide to follow Him with their whole heart.  They are like the deer or dog in that they are attentive to listen for God’s direction and then they eagerly respond.  God says that those who do this will have much to show for their actions and they will receive reward in heaven.


How well do YOU listen to God?

Don’t let the many voices in this world – music, movies, radio, TV, games… drown out God’s voice.  Spend time each day quietly, alone with God.



Curriculum by:  Mark Redka (CBM)