Good morning! I don’t know about you, but I am so easily distracted. But an interesting thing is that when I am very focused on one thing, I can get to a point where I don’t pay attention to anything or anyone else around me. That almost sounds like a contradiction, but I think it can make sense.
When I first started preaching, I would get so easily distracted. Whether someone was walking around the room, someone was visibly not paying attention, some noise from outside was penetrating the room, or any other kind of distraction, I would lose my train of thought and have to regather myself.
When I work on a project at work, every little email notification, teams message, or someone walking by the office, distracts me to the point where I have to go back to the point where I started to refresh my memory and continue to move forward.
This week, Joshua was abnormally disrespectful and required a harsher form of discipline than I would normally give. He ended up losing video games, phone games, and television/YouTube, for the entire month of August.
This is a big deal – one of the ways he communicates with his cousins/uncles in New Jersey is through FaceTiming while playing video games together. But I believe it was warranted, as tough as it is to follow through with the discipline.
Now being a couple days into his discipline, there is one thing I am noticing that is wonderful! When the distractions are removed from his life (video games, tv), he is more engaged and present in each moment, he is happier, and he uses his imagination to find other things to do that are much more beneficial to his life.
This same principle can be applied to our relationship with God. When we make the choice to remove the distractions from our lives, it is in those moments when we will experience the most growth, joy, peace, and satisfaction from spending time with God.
People will often spend time with God and feel like they are not getting anything out of it, but maybe it’s because we are getting distracted by the things around us: phone notifications, television, situations in our life that are weighing us down, hobbies, and anything else you want to fill in the blank with.
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Mark 1:35
Jesus knew the importance of removing distractions and that is exactly why He went to a place where He could spend time alone with His Father.
“No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.”
2 Timothy 2:4
Let’s do our best to stay focused on our relationship with God and the things that He calls us to do. He deserves our attention and the worship of our lives!
Heavenly Father, thank You for the way that You constantly watch over us. You are simply amazing – You know each one of us without distractions. Thank You for the many things that make this life convenient, but help us to remove the things that distract us from growing spiritually and fulfilling the purpose You have created us for. In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 