Don’t Get Defeated by Distractions

Have you ever been playing with a dog, maybe throwing a ball for it to fetch – it chases after the ball, but then stops because something else has caught its eye? Or maybe you’re playing tug-of-war with it – the pup holds the toy in its teeth with an iron grip, until you distract it somehow so it loosens its grip and you can pull the toy away?

Many words that could describe our society these days, but that word immediately comes to my mind: Distracted. 

 

We’re got smartphones that seem to beg for our attention; we’re texting, sharing photos, or checking to make sure we haven’t missed something on social media. We go out to dinner and rather than enjoying conversations with our family members or friends, we sit there staring at our phones. I admit, sometimes guilty as charged. 

 

Then we’ve got our computers. When we’re not using them for work, we can access email and explore the unlimited treasures of the Internet. If we get bored with those, we can always resort to the longtime favorite – TV – which can effectively anesthetize our minds if we let it.

 

But there are other ways of getting distracted. Job demands can monopolize our concentration, drawing us away from cultivating and strengthening important relationships. Hobbies and pastimes are good, but they sometimes pull us away from responsibilities that need to be addressed.

 

Years ago, Charles Hummel wrote a little book called The Tyranny of the Urgent, in which he succinctly explains how the seemingly “urgent” can lure us away from what’s really important – and life seems to always present something urgent that needs our attention. While we’re busy with “urgent” things, more important matters get ignored.

 

I’ve read through Oswald Chambers’ excellent devotional book a number of times, and one phrase that always resonates is “good is the enemy of the best.” That’s often been helpful for me in evaluating various opportunities or choosing whether to take on one more activity. Is it something I really should do, or is it just a good thing that will take time away from doing what’s best?

 

Distractions can pose a real problem for our spiritual growth as well. Writing to his protégé, Timothy, the apostle Paul warned him about the dangers of becoming distracted: 

“Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:3-5).

 

The book of Hebrews also speaks to the matter of distractions, or as it terms it, “drifting.” After reminding readers about their foundation of faith in Jesus Christ – “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Hebrews 1:3) – the author issues a warning: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away…how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:1-3).

 

This problem arises repeatedly in the Scriptures, strong and committed believers becoming distracted by various concerns and beginning to drift away from the faith they have held so dear. We see it with Abram, Isaac, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and others in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, even the disciples drifted away for a time. One of them, Judas Iscariot, never returned.

 

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul gives this sad pronouncement about a man of whom he had spoken highly in another of his letters: “Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:10). Can you imagine something like that being written about you?

 

So, the problem of drifting, becoming distracted by other things – even good ones – isn’t anything new. But it’s no less a danger for those of us who follow Christ in the 21^st century. As someone expressed Chambers’ sentiments in a similar manner, “a good thing, when it becomes the main thing, becomes a bad thing.”

It wouldn’t hurt to stop from time to time and assess whether we’re letting this happen to ourselves. Is my devotion to my Lord being diminished by allowing other things, even good things, become my primary focus? Am I living the victorious life in Christ that I’ve been promised, or am I unwittingly being defeated by distractions? Only through prayer and an open, humble heart can we answer that honestly.