Distractions

 

“I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” Jesus’ words from John 17:4

 

What distracts us from doing the work that will grow the Kingdom of God?

Recently, I have been thinking about what we, collectively as the Church of Jesus Christ, could accomplish if we could eliminate, or resolve, some of the things that distract us. Just this week, between myself and many others, these are the things that have come up:

• Facebook posts about the women’s’ marches.
• Social media, in general.
• False humility (oh, I couldn’t possibly do that.)
• Divisions or divisive people in the church.
• Pornography discovered in a marriage.
• The inauguration.
• Lack of discipline.
• Cold or lukewarm Christians, leaving the work for others.

Whether we were involved or uninvolved, for or against some of these, or even aware of them, some got sidetracked in their work for the Lord because of them.

Some of these things are life. We do not choose when people we love will die or get sick. Those are more like divine interruptions than they are distractions. We must react to those things in real, honest, and biblical ways. God uses these in our lives to touch others.

We should be a beacon of light and hope, even in the tough times.

Some of these though, are distractions because someone else’s sin has caused us to get off course. God is not the author of evil, but He will use these situations to draw us closer to Him, to test our faith, or to right a wrong for our neighbor. When the sin of another affects us, we are to go to that person. The sooner we go, the sooner the whole thing is over. When we wallow in angry or hurt thoughts of that sin, resentment, and then bitterness, grow in us. If we attack the problem early, it should protect us from the bitterness.

Bitterness can make us unproductive.

And, there are the times our own sin gets us off course. We are the only ones we who can fix this. Sometimes, someone is thoughtful enough to point it out. Our response to that correction can have a positive effect on us and what we are able to do for the Lord.

The two things on my list that we have control over are our own self-discipline and false humility. Sometimes things don’t get done because of petty disagreements (a pride issue), or we, in false humility, say, “Oh, you don’t want me for that job! I couldn’t possibly do that,” when we know it is a work God has prepared for us to do.

God has been showing me how much work needs to be done in our own culture for the Kingdom of God to grow. He calls us to do works for Him that He has gifted us to do, and that will display His glory and grow His Kingdom.

Are we doing them, or are we distracted?

Lord, show us when to keep our heads down and our hands on the plow, and when, what looks like a distraction, is a Divine interruption that needs our attention.