In Spite Of (Many) Distractions
Ξ November 30th, 2009 | → Comments Off | ∇ That Goofy Category |
Welcome back!
I was reading through some of Lura’s writings recently when I ran across a particularly appropriate article called “Distractions? What Distractions?“. To say that it hit home would be a serious understatement.
You see while I posted the news about her death on most of her blogs I didn’t post it specifically on this one. In fact, I didn’t get around to posting anything here until several months later in March when I tried to get started with continuing this blog as I’d said that I would. I got that post written and one other about a week later.
What actually surprised me was that nine months have now gone by without my having posted anything here. Oh I always intended to. On several occasions I loaded up the admin panel and sat there in front of the write post screen. I’ve read over a lot of both her and my own studies and notes. Yet somehow when it came down to it I couldn’t think of a single thing to write.
Of course part of the reason I was so unprepared is that there have been a lot of distractions. It’s funny how even some of the littler things in life can have had a lot of influence over whether you can get something done or not. These distractions ran the gamut from seemingly insignificant things to major problems that just *had* to be dealt with immediately. Several times health issues served to complicate things even further.
Looking back, I have to say that the times that the distractions seem to have been at their very worst were the times that I was actually close to DOING what I had said that I would do … get started with a serious effort to continue this blog. I’m sure most people that have been serious about being Christians will recognize the signature of the opposition that we often face when it comes to getting about God’s business.
That’s where Lura’s old article seved to yank the slack out of me. In it she was talking about this very problem and she quoted a couple of scriptures and what she said about them hit home.
James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
If you will submit yourself to God, THEN you can resist the devil and he will flee. We have that authority in the Lord. The word here is ‘resist’! But we were talking about thoughts. There’s help for that too!
2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
Did you notice that the warfare is not in the body, the flesh? Since the battle is in the mind (the only place left that the devil can bother you), we must use what the Lord has given us for weapons. We have authority in the name of Jesus!!
Simply put, As Christians we are subject to opposition from the enemy but that if we submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, he will run from us. Also that battle occurs more in our minds than anywhere else. Yes, there’s things going on in the real world that we have to deal with but WE get to decide where our minds are focused. If we allow these distractions to soak up all of our attention and time, then we’ll get nothing of the work God has set for us.
So we need to cast down every though and imagination, put away those things that try to take all of our attention away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We can, and must, cage our thoughts, control them, and focus our minds and thoughts where we know they should be. In doing that we’ll find the freedom and ability to start accomplishing things in spite of all the attempts to distract us from our true purpose. It’s difficult at first but like many things it gets easier with practice.
As I said, I’ve had a lot of distractions. I’ve been worried about money, having things I need, my health, and a whole host of things from insignificant to “oh no! not THAT too!”. Those distractions have served to keep me so preoccupied that I allowed three quarters of a year to go by without doing what I knew full well that I should be doing.
That is now officially changed. While I am not prepared yet to commit to any particular pattern of posting, one way or another I WILL be posting on a much more frequent basis on this blog in spite of the many would be distractions. I invite the reader to join and we’ll explore God’s word together.
