We live in the age of A.D.D!
People’s attention span is at an all time low, and over the next 20 years I can see it only getting worse. In today’s media savvy, fast paced world it doesn’t take much to distract people.
For example Sunday morning I was just about to open our service when I saw a cobweb right in front of me. It totally distracted me and I had to sweep it off before I could start. However, while we can laugh and joke about someone’s lack of attention, I believe we are in a spiritually distracted age.
I have seen it through this entire year, whether in my own life or in the lives of some of our team members. We make progress in our relationship with God. We start to move out of our comfort zones and commit to what God plans for our lives, and then right in front of our eyes is a cobweb swaying in the wind. We take our focus straight off what God is doing in our lives and onto the meaningless cobweb!
Most of the time it isn’t a cobweb, most of the time it is something more serious and something that demands our attention. This year alone I have seen distractions thrown at me left right and center. Just to name a few there was sickness, financial uncertainty, criticism, other peoples opinions, denominational struggles, former employers and peers spreading incorrect information, contracts that fell through, committed team members who were suddenly disconnected, personal struggles and lots lots more.
Then I have seen some of our team members come up against sickness, business commitments, inflexible work schedules, kid’s responsibilities, loss of jobs, rumors and many more. I realize that what we are doing is in direct opposition to the enemy of our soul. While in the beginning I found the distractions very obvious, lately I have realized they are much more subtle.
It is in these moments I remember how Nehemiah dealt with distractions. Throughout his experience while rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem he had distractions all around. In chapter 6 his enemies demanded to meet with him. They said they wanted to reason with him, yet Nehemiah knew he had a job from God to do and that he could not get distracted. Nehemiah told them he was too busy doing God’s work. Wow! I try to imagine the train wreck that would have caused in my life if I had done that with certain people demanding to meet with me! The thing for Nehemiah was that he feared God more than he feared the consequences of ignoring the distraction, and that ladies and gentlemen is why Nehemiah was able to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and rebuild the lives of that city.
So today I ask you, what distractions are in your life that is taking your time, attention and energy away from what God desires you to do? Do you fear the consequences of your distractions more than you fear not fulfilling what God has planned for your life?
