Selective Attention: to focus on those things that are consistent with our opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and felt needs.
It's how we are wired. We can't take everything in at once, so our brain edits what's around us to make it manageable. Without this mechanism, we would be so overwhelmed with information as we raced down the freeway that survival would be questionable. Unfortunately, selective attention is always at work trying to shape Jesus to meet our expectations.
Ask someone to draw a picture of Jesus and they will draw a Jesus that looks like them. He will be black or white, Asian or European, barefoot or sandaled, clean shaven or bearded based on what the budding artist is familiar with. Selective attention has led to the familiar portrait of a blue-eyed, light-haired, pale-skinned Jesus that could never have been of middle-east birth. In many cases this is harmless, but in others this distortion has left racism unchallenged.
Labels such as conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, and middle of the road can be dangerous when we are approaching Jesus and the Scripture. First, they are vague, confusing labels that mean radically different things to different people, but their greatest danger comes from the fact that they are all social labels that are culturally informed by the times we are living in. Cultural expectations are formed by what we already know. Jesus' wisdom is based on eternal truth that we are still learning. Culturally conditioned faith fosters the belief that we have already captured the truth, but the apostle Paul tells us that living faith involves an ongoing activity of taking off the old man with his old understanding and assumptions, and putting on the new man as Jesus continually reveals himself (Eph 4:22, Col 3:9,10).
Are you stuck in a rut? Has it been a long time since you have been surprised by something Jesus said? A long time since you have disagreed with something in Scripture and had to wrestle it out with God? If so, then you have been making Jesus in your own image. If you doubt this could happen to you, then you underestimate our tendency to wander and the deceptiveness of sin.
We need to be surprised by God. We need to wrestle with Jesus as our prejudice is confronted. We need this because Jesus brings a liberation that leads to love, joy, peace - and a meaningful life. We may feel safe with what is comfortable, but it's a trap set up by the enemy. He loves us to be comfortable if comfort acts as a cage to keep us from God.
So how do we escape selective attention? I'll suggest three ways, though I'm sure there are more.
1) Study the Scripture with others. Small group Bible studies mean there are more eyes on the page, more chances of seeing what we usually miss. This is especially true if you make sure the members of the study are from different backgrounds, professions, and even racial groups.
2) Read Christian authors who have stood the test of time. Most of the Christian books written today will not be remembered again after six months. That's because they merely reflect our time and prejudice. They just tickle our itching ears. But some books last because they convey eternal truth in a way that has been challenging and accessible to several generations. Add some of them to your reading list.
3) Break the bubble. We tend to listen to and read people we already agree with. Let yourself be challenged by other voices. You may still disagree after you have heard them out, but you will have gained something. No one is completely wrong, so you will take away some truth, but more importantly, you will come to Scripture with new questions. New questions always bring a positive response from God.
You may have noticed that Scripture has been at the center of this discussion. That's because without the regular study of Scripture you will be trapped in your preconceptions, and you will miss out on the riches that God has to offer. Ruts may seem safe and familiar, but they represent the broad way that leads to destruction. Jesus' narrow way has few ruts because few choose to travel it, and that's sad really. The view is so much better.
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