Why So Many Christians Feel Mentally Scattered Today – Highlight Episode 386

Attention is increasingly fragmented in a world filled with constant noise, entertainment, and instant gratification. Ray, E.Z., Mark, and Oscar explore how distraction is not just a productivity issue but a spiritual one, pulling believers away from prayer, Scripture, and meaningful presence with God and others. The guys explain that the loss of boredom, silence, and patience weakens the soul and shortens attention spans, making it harder to meditate on truth and grow in faith. They emphasize that what we give our attention to reveals what we love, and that distraction in God’s presence reflects misplaced priorities. They also highlight how modern habits are reshaping the mind, encouraging quick answers and shallow thinking rather than deep reflection and dependence on the Lord. Through practical steps like removing distractions, creating sacred time, and building disciplined habits, the guys call believers to fight for their attention, deepen their focus, and cultivate a life rooted in God's presence.

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Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.
Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Transcript

Kids With iPads Everywhere

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It really is an issue in our in our in our day and age. I think more than anything, we hear about it with what's happening in the school system here in the United States of America. But what's crazy is now it's like in most schools, every child is given an iPad. Like my daughter, uh Julia teaches at a Christian school, and all the kids like have a special, you know, pad that they're given. And so you got technology, you've got entertainment, you've got the flesh, desires. I mean, so many things that that contribute. But there's a danger. We we joke about it, we laugh about it, you know, we're doing that now. We can be light about it, but there is a seriousness in losing focus.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Um you like the idea or do not like the idea when you see a kid with an iPad at church or in a restaurant.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Disneyland. At Disneyland. I've seen a kid with an iPad at Disneyland.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

While on a ride.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Yeah. I I I hate it. Honestly, I I in fact I detest it. Yeah. Because you think about, well, a couple of things. First of all, the time that it's taken away from nurturing that child's heart and mind because they're just sitting there zoning in on the screen. But also the content of what's being piped to a lot of because you know a lot of these kids' parents aren't using any sort of filters. I'm really concerned. Yeah, there's so much happening, the rewiring of the brain, the you know, the death to meditation and careful thinking. And yeah. So I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Um, I think progress is backfired. We were just talking about it before, you with your super watches and um Apple Watches, lawsuit. Hey, you just want to go back to simple simplicity in a lot of things. And I I think it's backfired in that there was a time when um travel needed patience because you're sitting on the back of a horse. I mean it's a long time ago. And now we sit in a car that hands free, goes as fast as we want, and all that's happened is we get road rage. It hasn't helped our patience whatsoever. It's it's made it worse. And uh I would like to go back to a quiet time. I do have quiet times. Actually, you know, I get up at night to pray, and it's not no big deal because you've got night shift workers do it all the time. But that's my getting away from it all. Just absolute silence for about 30, 40 minutes. Patience is no longer a virtue. Remember that's can you finish this? Patience is a virtue, possess it while you can. Have you ever heard that? How does it go?

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Patience is a virtue. You possess it while you can.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

No, it goes further. Patience is a virtue, possess it while you can, often found in women, seldom found in man.

Why Boredom Helps The Soul

A Biblical Case For Meditation

SPEAKER_03 2:45

Yeah. I can't remember who it was and said it, but someone said that entertainment is the death of the soul. And a lot of people, a lot of neuroscientists have come out recently and recognize the importance of boredom, which is interesting because we are petrified of boredom. The second you feel bored, you feel inefficient, you feel anxious, you feel uncertain, like the big questions of life begin to creep into your mind. We fill our moments of boredom with scrolling and distraction and whatever we can to keep the neurons and synapses firing off in our brains, right? And it's actually one of the reasons why so many people have their best ideas in the shower is because your brain finally has a moment to breathe. Because in the shower, you're bored. You don't have a screen to distract you. And so I think it's really important that we, especially as Christians, that re we are able to redeem this idea of silence because that is where God speaks, right? So often, I mean, meditation, prayer, solitude, reading of God's word, all of those things take time. You don't sit down, imagine this. Imagine you're trying to build a relationship, imagine being a father, trying to build a relationship with her child. And they're like, all right, child, I'm gonna give you 15 minutes a day. Give me everything you got. Tell me everything you want me to tell you about yourself. But after those 15 minutes, get out of here. I'll see you next week. Or I'll see you tomorrow morning. Are you really spending time with that child in that same way? Like we do that with God. It's like, okay, God, I'm gonna give you three minutes this morning. That's gonna be my time in your word. And everything else, it's gonna keep me really busy. I'm gonna stay distracted for you, from you. Boredom is such an important aspect because we give our brains to think. Not only do we give our brains to think, but we give our souls an opportunity to hear from God.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Well, when we think of scripture and the norm for the believer, you know, I often think about like when Isaac was out in the field, it says when Rebecca was coming, right? With with uh the servant, and it says he was out in the field meditating. I mean, man, like when people think meditation, they immediately go to, oh, you must be some mystical, you know, Eastern. So but but that is that's the the tone and tenor of scripture. You look at the Psalms and how often it talks about meditating, you know? That's right. Mark, what's the value of meditation?

Train Attention Like A Muscle

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Well, it's it's the the idea is ponder by talking to yourself, right? We but we take it past that and we we meditate on the Lord. Pausing and meditating and being slow, slow to speak and quick to listen. Psalm 1, verse 2, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night. It doesn't say a glance, it doesn't say uh quickly go through. It's to meditate and to meditate through every aspect, perhaps every word in the midst of the verse, and just meditate through through life. Jonathan Edwards was huge on meditating through um the environment and everything that's going on. David Brainerd was not, right? And Jonathan Edwards did not understand David Brainerd's inability to enjoy sunrises and sunsets and the birds and things that he looked at it like kind of like commotion. Wow. But sometimes God will slow us down so that we can enjoy what God has given us.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Attention is something you have to fight for. Yeah. And I think you're absolutely right. It is, it is a muscle that we need to build, and it will build over time. But it's important to recognize that God has designed our brains in such a way that we gravitate towards the easy, or maybe that's a part of the fall. I don't know. How can you start building your attention memory and your ability to grow in your attentiveness? Is remove distractions. In the same way you got to get rid of the chips if you're trying to lose weight, remove distractions. Put your phone somewhere else. Don't make it easily accessible. Make it make bad habits hard to do. Yeah, that's a very powerful practice. Make bad habits hard to do.

Daily Scripture For A Deep Life

SPEAKER_02 6:50

That's really good, Oscar. I like it. Yeah, I want to give practical tips like that. Um, for those that are listening. Uh Spurgeon, he said this, he said, meditation and prayer are the rails upon which the locomotive of godliness runs. Say it again. Meditation and prayer are the rails upon which the locomotive of godliness runs. Nice. It's true. You know, you need rails, and and when those are in place, you know, and I think that that is probably a major barometer for whether or not we've lost our attention or focus. It's it's are we praying? A shallow mind produces a shallow Christian life. The word of God must be deeply thought upon if it is to shape the soul. Agreed?

Highlights Format And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah. Here's what I would say is whatever you do, read the word daily without fail. It's uh uh and I've mentioned this before, and so many Christians are so predictable and saying, Do you read the word every day? I try to. It always comes. I say to you, try and eat your food. And it's always no, I don't. I because food is prioritized. Well, put the Bible before your belly, you'll never go wrong. And that's when you can claim the promises of Psalm 1.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights from the Living Waters Podcast. Friends, we value your time. So we've created a bite-sized version of our podcast for listeners who want to get equipped without the jokes and fellowship. Be sure to check out the full episode every Thursday where we dive deeper into the topic. Until then, you can watch the full podcast episode available now on livingwaters.tv.