Day 14 of the 40 Days of Purpose

“When God Seems Distant”

Being focused is the opposite of being distracted. There are several ways in which I am distracted. Some times it happens because I am not as interested in the thing that first has my attention as I am interested in the thing that distracts me. One illustration of this was one night when I was playing cards while there was a good ball game on television. I was having a hard time concentrating on playing cards. But there are times when I am very interested in what I am doing and I still get distracted. This can happen when I value something more than the thing holding my interest. For example, let’s suppose I am watching the great ball game that is holding my interest because I am a huge fan of one of the teams that is playing, but suddenly I hear the crash of a car in front of my house and the scream of a child. Suddenly the game is forgotten and I am running for the front door to see if I can be of help. How was the sound I heard able to distract me from the important game on television? Because of the value I gave it. As much as I valued the game I was watching, I valued the child’s life more. On rare occasions, my wife would probably say often and she may be more near the truth, I have been so focused on something like a ball game that my wife can call my name and I don’t hear her. This is upsetting to her for it is as if I don’t value her as much as I value the game on television. It seems to her that she has to work to get my attention. Finally she gets my attention and upon hearing the tone of her voice I am drawn away from the game to give her my full attention for I value what I hear realizing that I have upset her by not answering. The point is this, “Where is my focus, what has my full attention?” We need to consider whether we are so focused on Christ that it is hard for us to be distracted by Satan, or if the reality is that we are so focused on the world that Christ is having a hard time getting our attention. No matter how loud the sinful nature shouts trying to get our attention we need to only be hearing the Spirit. So focused that we tune out anything that would interfere with our paying attention to our relationship with God. Or is the reality that we so value the things of this world our attention is constantly being pulled away from God?