“The Gospel Truth in 20 Seconds”

Shrinking Attention Spans

That night I read 20 verses. But they acted as if I’d read 20 chapters.

It was our church’s preschool Christmas program. Some of the families did not attend a church, so I used the evangelistic opportunity to read Luke 2:1-20. The crowd wasn't opposed to the content, but they sure struggled with the length.

A third of the way into the passage, the audience began to cough and fidget. Two-thirds of the way through, the squirming increased a couple more levels. By the time the shepherds returned from the manger glorifying and praising God, I nearly had to shout into the microphone to be heard over the collective restlessness in the sanctuary.

Luke 2:1-20 can’t be read reverently in less than 20 seconds.

The richness of Luke’s Christmas story can’t be reduced to an Instagram pic, a sound bite, or a Twitter post.

Because of information overload, we scan headlines and glean the top stories. There isn’t time to absorb everything in the news.

So I will try to help you out.

A Contrast of Gardens

On Thursday night of Holy Week, Jesus began to reverse the curse of sin.

Sin entered creation after Adam and Eve chose not to listen to God.

The cross redeemed creation after Jesus chose to listen to the Father.

In the Garden of Eden,

Adam and Eve disobeyed

in the light

and brought darkness

into the world.

In the Garden of Gethsemane,

Jesus obeyed

in the darkness

and brought light

into the world.

And that’s the gospel truth in 20 seconds.

I appreciate your time. Thank you for listening.

David