How many things compete for your attention every day? I was shocked to learn there are businesses whose sole purpose is to grab people’s attention and sell their attention to advertisers. They are called attention merchants. An expert in the field, Tim Wum, says the attention industry needs people who are in a distracted state and thus open to advertising. It is very important to pay attention to what you are paying attention to. 

As a Christian, I would propose, however, it is much more important to pay attention to Whom you pay attention to. In John 10, Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd. He tells us that He calls His sheep by name and they know His voice. It is vital to know Jesus’ voice because His voice isn't the only voice we will hear.

In 1 John 4:1 we read, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone into the world.” We also read in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15a, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.”

If we want to give our attention to Jesus’ voice and identify and reject any voice that is not His, how do we do that? I don’t know who wrote this, but I found a list of characteristics of Jesus’ voice versus Satans’s voice that may prove helpful. Jesus’ voice calms, comforts, encourages, enlightens, leads, reassures, stills, and convicts. Satan’s voice obsesses, worries, discourages, confuses, pushes, frightens, rushes, and condemns.

Each characteristic of Jesus’ voice has a corresponding, yet opposite characteristic. While Jesus’ voice calms us, Satans’s voice obsesses us, Jesus comforts while Satan worries us. While a majority of the words on this list are words that we probably understand, I think the last word in each list could use some clarification. conviction versus condemnation. Aren’t they basically the same thing? What is the difference? The difference is the destination.

Conviction leads you to Christ, condemnation drives you further from Him. Conviction leads to repentance and away from sin, condemnation leads to shame, guilt, and regret and, consequently, farther into a life of sin. If you have confessed a particular sin and have turned from that sin, but it keeps coming to mind, that is condemnation not conviction. God forgives and forgets. How can He remind you of something He has purposely forgotten? 2 Corinthians 7:10 reads, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Godly sorrow is conviction.

As Christians, our condemnation, or penalty for sin, was put to death with Jesus on the cross. He paid the penalty so we don’t have to. Satan, or the accuser as he’s called in Revelation 12:10, wants you to feel guilty, ashamed, and full of regret because it leads to feelings of defeat. If he can convince us we are defeated, we will act defeated, and lose the joy and peace we once had. Don’t listen to him! Consider the source and then listen to the voice of the Savior. In John 3:16 and 17 we hear Jesus tell us, “For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Written by Heather Moore