WHAT CURRENT ACTIVITY OR OPPORTUNITY MIGHT BE A DISTRACTION?

WHAT CURRENT ACTIVITY OR OPPORTUNITY MIGHT BE A DISTRACTION?

 

Human beings like to avoid pain and find pleasure. Distractions help with that, whether they involve procrastinating about honoring a deadline or diligently focusing your energy on some worthy cause to hide from one of the heavy responsibilities that God sent you into the world to do. Today’s topic really starts with this question: Have you embraced a distraction as a clever way to hide from God’s next task? If you have, who can blame you? He assigns some tough jobs! Distractions can make you feel satisfied, important, safe, or too busy to respond to God.

 

It may comfort you to know that women who face dragons and earthquakes on a regular basis in their family’s lives often find themselves easily distracted by the easier, softer side of life. It’s a survival instinct, a pressure release valve! Other bored women want to escape the severe reality of ordinariness and get lost in the magnificent, extraordinary business of running the universe, or at least, minding someone else’s exciting business for a little while. It’s a way to get their pulse back. Commit today to eliminating any distractions that are keeping you from God’s best.

 

 

WHAT DISTRACTS YOU UNDER THE SNEAKY GUISE OF A WORTHY ACTIVITY OR OPPORTUNITY?

 

Are you easily distracted from major tasks because of emails, phone messages, Instant Messages, text messages, faxes, or junk mail? Do you find that you overemphasize dining out and other entertainment, or that you abuse television for the sake of resting your brain? Are you the self-appointed gossip for your neighborhood, family, or office? Are you obsessing over what your body looks like or spending countless hours bidding on eBay for things you don’t need or can’t afford? Do you find yourself championing causes that others are passionate about?

 

Ask yourself: “What is it that I tend to take on as my own task, when someone else could or should be doing it?” Are you wasting time worrying? Here’s a harder question: Are you serving in ministry to actually avoid important, pressing responsibilities at home? Kathy Ross ministers through Reasons to Believe, an organization that links cutting-edge science to the Word of God. She fights daily against succumbing to distractions.

 

KATHY ROSS UNDERSTANDS THE DESIRABILITY OF DISTRACTIONS

 

An enthusiastic adventure-lover, Kathy thrives on challenges. In 1986, she applied her experience as an educator and communicator, to assist her husband, Hugh, in launching Reasons to Believe. In addition to adoring her family, friends, and pets, she continues to work alongside Hugh as an editor and executive.

 

Kathy loves to dig into Scripture, uncover new insights, and lead others to discover truths. From time to time, she teaches a Bible class or leads a retreat for her interdenominational, evangelical church. She says she feels led to ignite and fan the spark of people’s passion for learning truth, which gives them a zest for life and zeal for leading others to faith in Christ.

 

Kathy confesses that she is easily distracted by the many unmet needs for leadership that she sees around her—in her job, local schools, community, church, and so on. Each time she notices something lacking, she has a strong desire to try to fulfill that need, instead of focusing on what God specifically  has called her to do.

 

She says, “A godly man once observed that people who take too much responsibility for others’ lives and projects do so to stay busy enough to blissfully ignore some of their own responsibilities. So when my life loses focus or gets off track, I look to see how I’m ignoring or neglecting something in me or near me.”

 

What Current Activity or Opportunity

Might Be a Distraction?

Nehemiah Knew How to Handle Distractions

 

Nehemiah wisely stayed on task even when his enemy, Sanballat, manufactured a supposedly urgent problem to distract him. Read Nehemiah 6. How much prayer do you think is needed to grow into that Nehemiah-type wisdom and discernment regarding distractions?

 

SCRIPTURE TO PONDER

 

Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)

 

SUGGESTED PRAYER

 

Dear Lord Jesus, you have said that if I, _________, put my hand to the plow and look back, I am not fit for service in the kingdom of God. Today I pray that I will not be like a plowman who looks back or looks away from his task and then ends up cutting crooked furrows. Guide me into a life-changing analysis of my current distractions to your plans. Help me to see the truth about all the possible scripts available for my life and to choose only yours. I sincerely want to adjust my schedule to fulfill roles you have assigned to me and accomplish goals you have designed for me. I want to weed out everything else.

 

So . . . What Insight, Prayer, or Action Step Has God Laid on Your Heart Today?