Hunter Christner

When I was growing up my dad had a distinct sounding whistle to get my attention. When we would be somewhere and I wasn’t right beside him he would whistle; it would cut through any other noise and I would notice it. It often meant, “Come here!” Sometimes it was used to get me to stop doing something as he was watching me. 

As a firefighter, my dad has another distinct sound that he uses to get people’s attention — the searing siren on his fire truck. You can hear it coming before you can see it. It cuts through the music you are playing in the car and gets your attention. It has a distinct sound that causes you to be cautious and maybe even curious.

In a similar way God wants to get people’s attention. Have you ever considered that Jesus is God’s unique way of getting people's attention? Jesus was a distinct character who was often cutting through the noise of everyday life in the culture of the people living along the southeast part of the Mediterranean Sea. There were people who were alerted of his arrival before anyone could see him. 

Over 700 years before Jesus appeared to us a man named Isaiah wrote about him coming into the world. “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel,” Isaiah 7:14. Jesus did miracles and even claimed that he was God in front of the religious leaders at the time. If that doesn’t get people’s attention, he proved he was God by rising from the dead after three days of lying lifeless in a tomb that was guarded because his death was so important to the political leaders there. Forty days later he ascended into heaven, miraculously alive. Jesus got people's attention. 

Why should Jesus get your attention? Jesus is God’s unique whistle, his siren, who has come into the world to rescue people from their sins. Jesus is God’s son, a person who was sent into the world 2,000 years ago, and is still alive and getting people’s attention today. He makes us cautious and curious. Jesus came to get your attention and if you believe in him, that he came and died to take the penalty for your sin, you will be saved. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” Romans 10:9. Does Jesus have your attention? 

If Jesus has your attention and you want to know more about him, find someone who believes in him, and ask them to share more with you.

(Hunter Christner is associate staff at Campus Ventures in Powell.)