Distraction: October 22, 2010

Today's Word for Friday October 22, 2010

DISTRACTION

DEFINITION

Act of distracting or being distracted; having the attention or the mind drawn away or diverted.

SCRIPTURE

"Each one is tempted when he is drawn away (distracted) by his own desires and enticed." James 1:14

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Do you know that Satan's greatest goal for your life is not destruction but distraction? Satan wants to daily distract you from doing what the Lord expects of you. When Satan cannot get you to succumb to out and out temptation he works in more subtle ways to draw you away from the Lord. Corrie Ten Boom said that, "When the devil cannot make us bad he makes us busy." That is so true.

Consider how busy your life is now. Typically in our homes today both spouses work and many have children to care for along with all that goes into running a household. Then, of course, we have all the electronic diversions to keep us busy when we have a few extra minutes on our hands. We have TV's, computers, DVD's, texting, the internet and I-pod's. Satan can get us so involved in using these devices that we have no time to read God's Word or to communicate to Him through prayer or to go to church.

Satan will use whatever he can to distract us from having a relationship with the Lord. It is not that everything that consumes our time and keeps us busy is bad in and of itself. What is bad, is letting distractions, like the things we have listed, keep us so busy that we are not spending time with our Lord and Savior.

As you know we raised six children and we were a very active family. We didn't have all the modern technology so the distractions were different when we were raising our children, nevertheless there were many temptations to keep us busy. We had to set guidelines on the use of our time and we honored them. We must emphasize, we had to work at it constantly or our time would have been consumed by other things that Satan could have used to distract us from spending time with the Lord. You will have to work at it also.

When Jesus was visiting Martha in her home He had to explain to her the importance of spending time with Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He was saying. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made with the arrival of Jesus in their home. She came to Him and asked, "Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me." "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better."

James tells us that God is not to blame for our distractions. In James 1:13 it reads; "Let no man say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone."

So when we are distracted and do not do what God would ordain for our life, who is to blame? The verse above under scripture makes it clear that we are distracted when we are drawn away from the Lord by our own desires. Just as a fisherman uses bait to lure the fish to his hook, the devil uses bait to distract us from doing what God wants us to do. As Jesus told Martha, we make the choice.

When we disobey God and make the wrong choice, do not try to shift the blame or justify your actions by saying that the devil made you do it. Instead take the full responsibility, confess your sin and pursue living a Christ exalting life. God will hear you, forgive you and honor you for honoring Him.

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in Colossians 3:16.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

PRAYER

Give me the strength that only You can give today that I might not be distracted by the things of this world that keep me from spending time with You. Give me wisdom and decisiveness to live a life that totally honors You.