Distractions

Do you ever get distracted?

Have you ever started a project and then not finished it because your mind wandered to somewhere else?  And then you remembered another thing that needed doing.  Or a phone call you needed to make.  And then you decided to check Facebook or your texts.  And then you needed a snack.  But maybe you should walk the dog first.  But I need to finish this chapter. Except I just remembered that I have clothes in the washing machine that need to go in the dryer.  But first I'll go make another cup of coffee.  Now what was I doing? 

Can anyone relate?

We all get distracted from time to time.  Life is busy, and our schedules are filled with places to be and things to do. 

Sometimes distractions are a good thing.  We can be going through the busyness of the day and then find ourselves distracted by the beauty of a flower.  Or by a sunset. Or by a song we hear.  Or by the sound of children at play. At those times we hit the pause button on life, set aside for a moment whatever we might have been focused on, and enjoy the beauty.  We take time to smell the roses, to borrow a phrase.  Those are good distractions.

Too often, however, distractions are not good things. 

We too often allow distractions keep us from the Word of God.  We allow the busyness of life to get in the way.  We even allow good things, like family and friends, to become distractions, keeping us from best things, like time with the Lord. We too often use friends and family as an excuse, rather than seeking to find the right balance.  As a result, relationships with family, with friends, and with the Lord can suffer.

We allow the media to distract us.  The recent controversy over the Confederate Battle Flag might be seen as an example.  After the horror of the murder of nine people in a church Bible study group, much attention was turned to that flag.  That is not to say that it was not right and proper for South Carolina to take the flag off the State House grounds.  But the flag is not the issue.  The flag did not pull the trigger.  The murders were committed by a young man with hatred and evil in his heart. 

Moving the flag does not remove hatred and evil from our world.  Moving the flag does not eradicate racism.  But focusing our attention on a flag distracts us from other issues.  If we are distracted by a flag, then we won't be paying as much attention to bad nuclear deals with terrorist nations, or to the sale of body parts of aborted babies, or to other issues of the day.

Politicians would like to keep us distracted.  The media would like to keep us distracted.  The enemy of our souls would like to keep us distracted.

That's the greatest danger of all.  That the enemy of our souls would keep us so distracted, whether by busyness or by false teachers or by media and political pundits with their particular agendas.  That distraction is the one we must guard most against.

The enemy of our souls would like to keep us so busy and so distracted by our religion and our politics and our good works that we miss the most important thing - our relationship with Jesus.

Don't give your enemy the victory!

"You therefore, beloved....be on your guard."  (2 Peter 3:17 NASB)

"Be on guard."  (2 Timothy 4:15 NASB)

"Be on guard, so that your heart will not be weighted down...."  (Luke 21:34 NASB)

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  (Ephesians 6:12 NASB)

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith."  (Hebrews 12:2 NASB)