Psalm 119:27 “O how I love Your law. It is my meditation all the day.”
If we were to say that the mark of a growing believer is an ever increasing love for the Word and its precepts, then how is this practically seen in a life? Too many believers will readily admit that life is so busy..almost too busy. “My job demands so much of my time..the kids, their school and sports and music lessons take so much time and energy that at the end of the day I’m just exhausted...then there’s church activities and vacations and time with friends...I have so little time left to spend in the word and prayer.”
Books are written to help the modern day Christian try to figure out how to manage their time..seminars held to give people at least a weekend to really focus on the word and get away from all the distractions. Is this how we are to live out 80+ years? Does God look at us and understand that life is hectic and that’s why He gave us Himself in written form..so it can be picked up at our convenience? ...Because He knew life would be busy? I’m afraid that’s what the Christian world has accepted..
We say there are too many distractions...we readily admit that we SHOULD put some things away..but what??
Distraction: a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.
I’m going to offer that the reason we find it hard to put away distractions in our life is because the thing we give our attention to is the thing our heart desires...we love the time spent with friends...we love watching little Johnny play baseball...we love the entertainment of tv and movies because it helps us to just relax for a little bit in this hectic world..sometimes we need the mental break. I may not love my job per se but I need the money to achieve the standard of living I love and think I deserve.
As I look at these distractions, I don’t think I can put my finger on one and say it’s a sin.. This is why the believer has difficulty in deciding which one goes. ...But maybe we are looking at this whole thing in the wrong light. Maybe the mark of a mature believer isn’t trying to figure out which distraction is keeping him from the discipline of being in the word..maybe the mark of a mature believer is trying to figure out which parts of life should He discipline himself to do because he’s so distracted by the Word.
Distracted by the Word? Let me look again at the definition of distraction.. “a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.”
What if it could be said of us that our time spent in the Word..reading and seeing truths and meditating throughout the day as to how to apply those truths.. distracts us to the point that we have a hard time focusing on work..a hard time focusing on movies and entertainment...on that baseball game or time with friends. What if our quest to know more and read more consumes our minds to the point that we rush through meals and shorten the work week so that we can spend the extra time in the presence of God..at the feet of the Word?
We see Jesus commend Mary when Martha complains that she’s doing all the work and her sister is just sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words.
Luke 10:41-42 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Would this kind of life be the kind of life that makes us aliens and strangers in this world? No longer looking for chances to take “mental breaks” because we know the days are short. We realize that the things that once used to distract have to be sifted through and a choice made as to which one needs to be done so that you can get back to the thing you love? ...You’re no longer rushing through the Word so you can live life.. You're rushing through life so you can get back to the Word.
What a thing to say about a life that finds that the Word and things of the Lord are such a distraction that it’s hard to concentrate and focus on other things. That’s a heart that has been radically changed by being in the light...
2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
The more we behold the glory of Christ, the more He reveals Himself to us by opening our minds to understand scripture...which causes us to want to understand more ...and then we less and less want to give our full attention to the world.... We become distracted by the Word.
Jeremiah 15:16 “Thy words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.”
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