Luke tells us that when the time had come, Jesus “set his face” towards Jerusalem. In other words, Jesus knew where he needed to go and what he needed to do. He was not going to look to the right or the left to allow him anything to distract him from what he had been sent to do.
We live in a world that is filled with distractions. Distracted driving is the number one cause of accidents on the road. Distractions from our work keep us from being efficient and prevent us from significant accomplishments. Distractions in our devotion time hinder our ability to fully experience the presence of God.
But distractions are inevitable. The phone buzzes. The doorbell rings. A child cries out. At this very moment, as I am attempting to write this, I am receiving a text message from my wife and the phone in my office is ringing. I will let the phone go to voicemail. But it is important for me to respond to my wife. However, taking the time to do so hinders my ability to effectively and efficiently finish this writing.
You can’t eliminate all the distractions but you can minimize the distractions. Turn off the notifications on your phone. Find places that are isolated to get work done. The idea of folding hands and bowing heads in prayer is not Biblical but was developed as a practical way to avoid distraction during times of prayer.
The distractions I have the most control over are the distractions that are self-inflicted. Social media is one such example of this. No one forces you to participate in social media but it is a huge distraction today. Social Media apps are engineered to hold our attention captive. Deleting these apps could go a long way in helping you recover hours, days, and weeks in your year. Shows like the Social Dilemma and books like Digital Minimalism point out the dangers of Social Media and how it distracts us from the most important things in life.
The final thing to say here is to have an understanding of what matters. There are many things that vie for our attention. But few things are important. We can’t underestimate the virtual unimportance of almost everything. We have a tendency to make everything more important than it is. This is a key. Know what is truly important. Devote yourself to that. Be willing to say no to lesser things. Our time on earth is short. We don’t have the time to allow ourselves to be distracted from what God has called us to do.
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