"Daddy, watch me!" cried the little girl from the backyard. Dad was busy with a project, but he smiled and cast a sideways glance toward his daughter. "No, Daddy, really watch me!"

Years later, she was playing in the crucial game of the season. Dad was physically at the game, but he was not present because he was preoccupied with his phone. All of a sudden, there was a huge cheer! He looked up and saw his smiling daughter come running up the stands, "Dad! Did you see it!? Did you see me make the winning score?!"

The daughter's question, "Did you see it?" cuts like a knife in the unobservant father's heart; but the Savior's, "I tell you I do not know you . . . depart from Me" (Luke 13:27), is a crushing blow of unimaginable guilt, grief, regret, and an agony without end.

As we enter Advent and focus on our readiness to celebrate the Savior's birth and on our watchfulness for His second coming, we can ask two questions: Are we really watching? And how distracted are we?

Distraction comes so easily. Peter was walking on water until fear distracted him from Jesus' promise (Matthew 14:29-30). In Jesus' parable, it is the weeds of distraction that choke the seeds into ineffectiveness (Luke 8:7).

Because of our weakness and easy distractibility, God exhorts us to a spiritual watchfulness. He says, "Always be on the alert!" "Keep your eyes open!" "Chase sleepiness away!"

God calls us to a wakeful watchfulness because we have enemies who want to take advantage of any distraction and all sleepiness. "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8 ESV) Similarly, the Apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders about the danger of false teaching and said, "Therefore watch. . . ." (Acts 20:31) The verb indicates ongoing action: "Keep on watching—don't stop!"

We are watchful when we are alert against our spiritual enemies and aware of every avenue by which they seek to attack. We are able to strengthen the defenses and increase our watchfulness by energizing ourselves with the Gospel of salvation. The joy of our salvation keeps us actively awake to faithfully serve the Lord by using the gifts He has given us, as faithful stewards, until He returns (Matthew 25:14-30).

The Apostle Paul reminds us that thanksgiving is also part of ongoing watchfulness. "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." (Colossians 4:2 ESV) In other words, don't let the troubled world around you and the need for defense distract you from also seeing every good and perfect gift that comes down from above (James 1:17). Watchfulness is living with eyes wide open so we don't miss seeing the reasons for giving thanks and praising our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

Really watching without distraction leads to always being ready for Jesus' return. "[Continue to] watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." (Matthew 25:13)

"[Continue to] watch, stand fast in the faith!" (1 Corinthians 16:13) Then, by God's grace through faith in your coming Savior, you won't miss a thing.

Wayne Eichstadt is pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Spokane Valley, Washington.