CONNECTING POINT: Attention Seekers

Do you ever sit back and just watch people? I often do but please understand this practice doesn’t make me creepy. Observing people is common for all of us in one way or another. Certainly, we refrain from being critical of those around us, none of us deserves such criticism. Some individuals wish to be the center of attention while others like to simply blend into the crowd and remain unnoticed. Those who garner everyone’s attention are loud and possibly obnoxious, they are the individuals I sit back and watch.

As I’ve been reading about the events leading up to the births of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ in Luke’s account some observations stand out about the character of their parents. Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary were not attention seekers, they were humble individuals whom God worked through in some unique circumstances. An angel visited them giving them a special message, but you’ll notice that they didn’t make a ton of hullabaloo to all those around them. After Zechariah’s voice returned at John’s birth, he praised God and refrained from making a spectacle of his silence. “The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea, people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this

wondered about it, asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord’s hand was with him,” (Luke 1:65-66). Individuals of questionable character would have taken such a situation and turned it into a spectacle, a home would have been turned into a shrine and a child turned into some kind of sensation. This is not the case with John because his parents truly honored God.

Luke writes, “And the child (John) grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel,” (Luke 1:80). The

timeline for John and his family pauses here; at least 30 years are absent from the Scripture. I will not speculate or suggest I’ve found a hidden

mystery, some things in the Bible are omitted for reasons beyond our comprehension and that’s ok.

First-century Jews understood the desert or wilderness experience much differently than we do today, trust me it wasn’t a camping experience. For John or others, the desert was a place of trial or testing. A time of separation included self-sacrifice and establishing real priorities for one’s life.

Mary and Joseph, after the birth of Jesus, were visited by some local shepherds, who also had a unique experience with an angel directing them to go and see the Messiah. The shepherds then shared the news of the newborn Messiah with those in the vicinity. Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Again, we had another individual who chose to hold these special events close, rather than advertise how special they are.

Attention-seeking is what drives many individuals today. The internet is littered with false teachers, prosperity preachers, and those who are looking to profit off their latest “word for the Lord” or angel visit. As Christians, we need to be mindful of these harmful practices and stick to keeping the focus on Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible. Our affection and passion need to be directed at what honors Jesus; a little wilderness time is what the doctor ordered.