Uninterrupted Attention

 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”   John 1:14




Pastor Larry Miller quoted that scripture for the Christmas Eve service.  It was a beautiful reminder of the love that God gave us by sending His One and only Son. To live to die, that was the plan. Good Friday is the reason for the season.
The part, “…and we saw His glory,…” really struck me as I re-read it Christmas morning. Some translations will say, “we beheld” or “we observed.”   I asked myself, what does that look like to see, behold, or observe His glory?  Jesus was active in the first two, He became and He dwelt. However, our responsibility is in the beholding of His glory. This must be important to know because John takes time to describe the glory that we are observing. So again, I must ask God, what it looks like to live out, “…and we saw His glory…?”
In the original Greek, we saw, means to observe something with continuity and attention. To carefully look at something, to play very close attention to.  The connection to this observation is uninterrupted, unbroken.  As Wuest would put it, “And we gazed with attentive and careful regard and spiritual perception at His glory…”
My time with God that morning showed me how far I still need to come. I need to truly seek Him with an unbroken stare. I need to be more active in my attention to His Word. I need to not take His glory for granted. In short, I must choose to be obedient and give Him my uninterrupted attention.