Distractions - Devotion for 10/4/07

Distractions – Devotion for 10/4/07

Are you easily distracted? When you are in a class or lecture, does the smallest thing take away your attention from what you are supposed to be paying attention to? What about when you go to the store to get just one particular item? I’ve gone to the store before just to get a galloon of milk and I walk out pushing a cart full of cheetos, fritos, and Doritos (what’s up with all the ‘tos?). There are times when we may be doing chores around the house, and right in the middle of dusting the din, someone will get distracted and move on to something else without ever completing the task they were assigned to do. On a spiritual level, how many times do you go to God in prayer, but in the midst of your prayer you begin to think about how you need to go the bank, pick up the dry cleaning, wondering how they put the filling in a Twinkie – “umm, where was I God?”

As a Christian in the midst of the world, there are tons of distractions that do nothing but distract us. While our task may be to edify and glorify God with our lives, there are literally hundreds of thousands of potential distractions that may keep us from our objective. I confess, if the phone rings while I am in the midst of prayer I will quit my prayer to answer the phone! That’s kind of like putting God on hold because I think that whoever is on the other end of the line is more important. Any day that we say that we don’t have time to read at least some of God’s word – any day that we say that we have too much to do to pray – any day that we say that can’t spare a few minutes to simply listen to what God has to say to you that day – those days we are allowing distractions to take the place of God in our lives. When we allow distractions to take the place of God in our lives, we are de facto saying that those things are more important than God. And when we put something in a place of greater importance than God we have entered into idolatry. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 states, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” In Eugene Peterson’s The Message, he puts it like this: “When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders.” Today, maintain focus on the mission and the purpose of our creation – to glorify God with our lives. If you’re reading this, you’re already taking a little bit of time to spend with Him – good start! Don’t stop there! Talk to Him, and give Him a chance to respond. Don’t get distracted.