We seem to live in a world where everyone is distracted in some way shape or form. How many of us have laughed at seeing a person walk into something whilst absorbed by their phone screen – the irony being that we have more than likely viewed it on our phone screen! There is also a dark side to this when we hear of ‘Distraction Crimes’ where a smooth-talking con-artist keeps somebody at the front door whilst their associate gets into the house and helps themselves.
When I began my training as a train driver, one of the first things we were warned about was the danger of distractions. The importance of this was brought home to me in the summer of 2017 when there was a derailment at Waterloo. I was bringing a train into Waterloo, and we had been delayed and only had a vague idea of what might have happened. You can imagine my surprise when the sight of a train on its side loomed into view on the line immediately to my right and milling around it were a small army of orange clad staff. The big temptation was to have a good long look at what was going on, but I knew only too well that an accident could happen in the blink of an eye and thankfully my training kicked in. I sounded the horn to make people aware of my presence, as my sole job was to get that train into the platform as safely as possible. In all honesty those few minutes felt much longer than any other part of that journey. When I came to a stand on at the platform and shut down the cab, I then allowed myself a moment for a very big sigh of relief!
Being distracted is also something that can affect us as Christians – trust me I know this all too well and those distractions are many and varied and can seem quite innocent. We could for instance be in a very public ministry and although incredibly blessed by God, we start to develop a bit of an ego problem and lose sight of the very important ministry that God has entrusted us with. That is one of the fears that is constantly before me as God has guided me into both writing these blogs and occasionally speaking at church. If my desire to ‘perform’ takes precedence above the simple day by day moments of closeness with God, it is my prayer that somebody will take me aside and let me know where I am going wrong!
Or the distraction can just be the stuff that life throws at you and over the past two years we have all had that in one way shape or form and not just because of Covid. As Christians we are not immune from this as situations can quite easily take our focus away from God and allow day-to-day problems to overwhelm us, to the cost of our relationship with God. This is so beautifully illustrated by Peter in Matthew 14 v 30:
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’
Peter got distracted when he walked on the water towards Jesus. When he was within touching distance of him he saw the waves around him and began to sink. Yet the one Peter was walking towards was never distracted from His work and purpose.
All the way through the gospels we see Jesus as a man who was never distracted from His purpose on this earth. We see of this when we read in Luke 9 v51:
‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem’
Jesus knew full well when He went to Jerusalem for that last time that He was heading toward His trial and execution on a cross. He was heading towards fulfilling the very purpose for which He came to this world, to take upon Himself the sin of every person, including you and me, in order to make us right in the sight of God, His Heavenly Father. However, He also knew that three days later He was to rise back to life from that cold, stone tomb to demonstrate the unbridled power of God Himself.
Perhaps you have heard the gospel message many times before, but have thought ‘Not today, perhaps another time’ and allowed yourself to be distracted by the temporary pleasures or troubles of this world in which we live. All I can say is this, life is the most unpredictable thing we know and that putting your trust in Jesus as your saviour is the most certain thing you can have in this life as no matter what is thrown at you He will never let you go.
Image credit: Ahmed Zid via Unsplash
