Being Distracted to Death

Distractions! They are all around us. As of late, my life feels bombarded with circumstances, issues, and focuses that make me feel as if my life is ebbing away into a purposeless abyss. It is as if my heart longs for being in the presence of God and yet, it seems as if I cannot get there. Although I attempt to seek the Lord on a daily basis, my mind is continually being pulled away by all of the other happenings of life. While many would excuse that as simply being “real life” in that we cannot expect to go through life and not have other things that are not “God” at the forefront of the our minds at times, I would offer another explanation. From the way I read Scripture, God never intended for us to be distracted by the cares of this world. In fact, he warns us that it is possible that the life he offers us can be “choked out” by the “worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth” (Matthew 13:22). Maybe that’s how I feel, like the life of Christ in me is being choked out by all of the other things I am dwelling upon in my life. The rigors of day to day life have taken their toll and I have caught myself thinking about so many other things that truly do not matter when compared to what Jesus Christ offers me.

I know that it sounds as if I am “burning out or backsliding” but in all honesty, that’s not the case. I am simply suggesting that I am sick of all of the things in my life that I have discovered which are competing against Jesus in me! Song of Solomon says it best in reminding us to “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom” (Song of Solomon 2:15). In the beauty of this intimate relationship between two lovers, they had to stop for a moment and realize that there are things that can potentially damage their relationship. They weren’t concerned with the “big things” like an “affair or abuse;” rather, they recognized that relationships are ruined by the slow and subtle things that come into our lives almost unnoticed. In surveying a vineyard full of fruit, one would hardly notice if a few grapes were missing off of a vine. You could look across that lush growth of your labor and not notice the weeds that were beginning to work their way up the vines to choke the life from the plant. Unfortunately, it is only after the destruction is noticeable that many people take action.

I cannot help to consider the several warnings of Jesus in reminding his disciples that when the “Master” returns he wants to find his servants “doing” what he is has commanded (Matthew 24:46 and Luke 12:43). What is it the Lord expects us to be doing? Did he intend for us to get so involved in the everyday affairs of life on earth that the thought of Him is just another aspect of our lives that we have to juggle in our busy schedules? Did he intend for us to make our own plans as what we are to do with our time, money, and resources in this life (see Matthew 25:14-30 to answer this question)? Hebrews 12:1 reminds us that in the race of life that we are to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” How do we do that? By “FIXING OUR EYES ON JESUS” (Hebrews 12:2). The servant who is not doing what His Master has commanded him to do has his eyes fixed upon the wrong focus-----and this is what distractions aim to do.

For me, I had to be confronted with the convicting question of “why?” Why do I choose to fix my eyes on others things? Why do I choose to look toward other things in life as if they are more important and interesting than Christ? Distractions are one of the most effective tools of the enemy. If he can keep our eyes fixed on this world and “distracted” from keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, then we will be “hindered” and “entangled” in our lives. This world offers so many things that will compete for our attention and affection; consequently, when we feel like God is not addressing certain needs in our lives---for pleasure, peace, and prosperity-----we naturally turn our gaze to anything else that appeals to us. The Master, however, has commanded that we be faithful. We cannot afford to neglect our “vineyard” because we are tired and bored with looking at the same fruit day after day. The little foxes seldom come to the vineyard where there is no fruit. Rather, they wait until the fruit is ripe for harvest! Proverbs 4:23 reminds “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” We need to be mindful of taking care of what God has given us in this life. We will find ourselves in great danger of ruining the work that He has accomplished in us when we begin to look at His abundant blessings as being nothing more then “common” items that are associated with being a “Christian.” When we are easily distracted by what this world brings our way, we in one sense are telling God, “You’re not enough to hold my attention. I just have to look at this thing over here that is by far more interesting and important!” Believe me, as I write this, I stand guilty of doing this more often than not.

Distractions should indicate an important truth: God is not having His rightful place in our lives. When things take us away from what God has called us to be and has called us to do, we are experiencing life without Him. Our focus moves away from making Him the center of our lives and we make whatever “distraction” we are gazed upon to be the thing that drives us. By doing so, we leave the fruit of our lives vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. How does a godly man or woman fall into sin? It wasn’t because their eyes were “fixed upon Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” Each time we choose to look away from God concerning the issues in our lives, we place ourselves in a potentially dangerous situation of having a thief come to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10) what God has done in our lives. Remember, in one split second life can become a tragedy; however, to those who will “fix their eyes” upon Jesus and “watch and wait” for their Master, they will never “fall and receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11).