Have you ever watched those epic fail videos? You know what I'm talking about. People trying to do something "really epic," but they end up just making themselves look foolish. For example, people attempting to participate in crazy parkour stunts only to miss the mark and hit their head against a brick wall. Not a pleasant experience, I would imagine.
I think the most puzzling genre of fail video are the ones that feature cell phone fails. People walking around so focused on what is happening on their cell phone screen that they end up falling backward into a plant, or face-first into a pool, or nose-first into a pole.
I find them puzzling because I mean, how can you be so focused on the virtual world that you forget about the genuine dangers of not paying attention to the real world?
It is this puzzling imagery that comes to my mind when I read 2 Peter 1:5-9: "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."
The idea in that passage is that if you give diligence (pay attention to) to that which produces fruit in the knowledge of Christ, it provides evidence for your salvation. However, the opposite is also true. Verse 9 refers to someone who ignores the building up of his faith and characterizes him as someone who is short-sighted to the point of blindness. This person's life is characterized by being so short-sighted that he fails to pay attention to the one person that ultimately matters- God Himself.
Let us lift our eyes and behold our awesome God so that we bear the fruit worthy of the knowledge of Christ.