Are You Guilty of Spiritual Tunnel Vision?
With the kind of the work I do at my local church, I notice a lot of things. Part of it is my nature; I have always been very observant. Part of it comes from what I have learned over the years. Part of it is because of my responsibilities in serving the church; I have to be aware of the environment around me.
Everybody does it if they aren’t careful. It is very easy to get caught up in the moment of our worship, or the sermon, or the duties we are performing, and close everything else around us out of our minds. As children we are told to close our eyes when we pray in order to eliminate distractions and focus on God, and as we grow up it turns into a habit that effects everything we do spiritually.
We worship with our eyes closed, or if we keep them open we try not to notice what is going on around us. During the message we concentrate on the preacher, diligently writing notes on the message and not looking around. When we are called to address the congregation we focus on the words we are giving, trying our best to express the spiritual significance the subject means to us. We are very spiritual in keeping our focus on God… We have tunnel vision.
At this point you are probably wondering to yourself, “What is so wrong with that?” Everything is wrong with it my friends. As Christians we are supposed to have our eyes in the same place as God’s eyes, and He is not focused on Himself, He is focused on people. To demonstrate, just look at the example of Christ:
Was it some angelic revelation that enabled Jesus to see Zacchaeus in the tree? Did Jesus have to go up into the high mountains and pray for hours before He was able to notice that children were being turned away? No. Jesus was simply aware of what was going on around Him (Matthew 12:14-16, Matthew 16:5-8, Matthew 26:8-10, John 6:60-61), because He didn’t have tunnel vision.
At my church it is a common practice for the men to be called up to dance and worship before the Lord, and there is nothing wrong with this. It becomes tunnel vision, however, when the man neglects to recognize that his spiritual moment has put his wife in the back keeping tabs on his three rambunctious children. The more Godly form of worship would be for him to watch the children so that his wife can worship undistracted.
Preachers at my church often give alter calls, or do other closing activities with their messages like having the congregation stand with their hands raised for the closing prayer, and there is nothing wrong with this. It becomes tunnel vision, however, when the speaker gets caught up in their “closing ritual”, holding the audience captive with their hands raised while they try to convince more people to come to the alter, or even preach an entirely new message in the closing. In doing this they are oblivious to the physical discomfort they are putting on their audience, and have completely forgotten lesson 1 of how to save souls.
Focusing on God is a good thing. But God does not want our focus on Him to prevent us from noticing the needs of the people that He cares about. Even as we set our hearts on God, we must strive to be aware of what is happening around us, like Jesus was. We need to notice when that visitor who came into the service late gets up to leave before closing without anyone greeting them. We need to notice when that couple with young children is being ministered to, and make sure the kids are not being neglected. And when we run up front to worship at the alter, we also need to make sure that someone stays in the back to guard the door where evil might sneak in.
It is easy to become caught in a tunnel, and if we aren’t careful, it will cost us.
James :)
Everybody does it if they aren’t careful. It is very easy to get caught up in the moment of our worship, or the sermon, or the duties we are performing, and close everything else around us out of our minds. As children we are told to close our eyes when we pray in order to eliminate distractions and focus on God, and as we grow up it turns into a habit that effects everything we do spiritually.
We worship with our eyes closed, or if we keep them open we try not to notice what is going on around us. During the message we concentrate on the preacher, diligently writing notes on the message and not looking around. When we are called to address the congregation we focus on the words we are giving, trying our best to express the spiritual significance the subject means to us. We are very spiritual in keeping our focus on God… We have tunnel vision.
At this point you are probably wondering to yourself, “What is so wrong with that?” Everything is wrong with it my friends. As Christians we are supposed to have our eyes in the same place as God’s eyes, and He is not focused on Himself, He is focused on people. To demonstrate, just look at the example of Christ:
Luke 19:1-6 - Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (NIV)
Matthew 19:13-14 - Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV)
Was it some angelic revelation that enabled Jesus to see Zacchaeus in the tree? Did Jesus have to go up into the high mountains and pray for hours before He was able to notice that children were being turned away? No. Jesus was simply aware of what was going on around Him (Matthew 12:14-16, Matthew 16:5-8, Matthew 26:8-10, John 6:60-61), because He didn’t have tunnel vision.
At my church it is a common practice for the men to be called up to dance and worship before the Lord, and there is nothing wrong with this. It becomes tunnel vision, however, when the man neglects to recognize that his spiritual moment has put his wife in the back keeping tabs on his three rambunctious children. The more Godly form of worship would be for him to watch the children so that his wife can worship undistracted.
Preachers at my church often give alter calls, or do other closing activities with their messages like having the congregation stand with their hands raised for the closing prayer, and there is nothing wrong with this. It becomes tunnel vision, however, when the speaker gets caught up in their “closing ritual”, holding the audience captive with their hands raised while they try to convince more people to come to the alter, or even preach an entirely new message in the closing. In doing this they are oblivious to the physical discomfort they are putting on their audience, and have completely forgotten lesson 1 of how to save souls.
Focusing on God is a good thing. But God does not want our focus on Him to prevent us from noticing the needs of the people that He cares about. Even as we set our hearts on God, we must strive to be aware of what is happening around us, like Jesus was. We need to notice when that visitor who came into the service late gets up to leave before closing without anyone greeting them. We need to notice when that couple with young children is being ministered to, and make sure the kids are not being neglected. And when we run up front to worship at the alter, we also need to make sure that someone stays in the back to guard the door where evil might sneak in.
It is easy to become caught in a tunnel, and if we aren’t careful, it will cost us.
James :)
posted by AskAboutGod | Monday, February 15, 2010
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