Have you ever been focused on
accomplishing a task or a goal and while you were focused in the beginning, at
some point in the process you got sidetracked? I will admit it, if you won’t. I have
numerous times! I can be focused, have a plan in place, in the process of carrying
out said plan and out of no where it seems something happens and the next thing
I know I am doing something totally different from what I originally set out to
do. Those “things” that happen are
appropriately called “distractions”.
I liken distractions to the rodeo clown; his role is to simply keep the bull’s
focus on him so that he the bull won’t go after the actual bull rider. So it is
with the things of God. Think of the enemy and his tactics as the “rodeo clown”
in our lives. His goal is to get us to focus on other things, anything but the
goal of serving God.
I
am not happy about it, but I must confess that distractions have gotten the
best of me lately. My year started off great, I had goals set and my plan to
reach those goals laid out. Recently I sat down to evaluate my progress and I realized
that I had lost sight of my goals. In the process of trying to figure out why,
I was gently admonished by the Holy Spirit. You guessed it; I had become
distracted by so many things that had come up in my life. Not that the “things” that have come up were not
important, but they caused me to shift my focus away from God’s plans and on to
those “things”. It was evident that
for me, life’s distractions were clearly winning and pursuing God’s plan was at
a deficit.
I
think sometimes we think of distractions as the obvious, minor, unimportant
things that happen, but that’s not always the case. In fact, the enemy loves
for us to think of “distractions” in
that manner so that we don’t recognize them when they appear in other ways. You
see sometimes distractions can be big things, important things like illness
(with you or someone close to you), job loss, conflict on the job, marriage
trouble, financial distress, troubled children, or other family issues. While
these things are important, they can be distractions when it comes to pursuing
the things of God. They can cause us to get so focused, so consumed with those
events that we lose focus of the goal or the promise that God has given to us.
Please understand that I am not saying that those things are not important and
don’t deserve our time, but I am saying that we have to be careful because they
can cause us to worry or become so frustrated that we can no longer focus on
the things of God. We have to remember that our worrying, our frustrations, our
feelings won’t change those situations and we must put them at the feet of
Jesus just as we do other things AND even with these things we must continue to
press on, continuing to follow God’s plan for our lives.
Don’t
allow the enemy to use those “distractions”
to cause you to give up on your destiny or to give up on God all together. Call
those things what they are “D-I-S-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-S”. Pray about them and ask
God to help you remain focused and give you the strength to press on, no matter
what. As for me, it’s time to regroup and get back on track. I am choosing to take my eyes off of the "rodeo clown" and readjusting my gaze on God's plan for my life. If you are in the
same situation, I sincerely urge you to do the same.
Be encouraged today.
_____________________________________________
~ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your
adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour. 1 Peter 5:8
~ I am saying this for your
benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help
you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.1
Corinthians 7:35
~ I
press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which
God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians
3:14
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