Living Free from Distraction

One of the challenges of living for Jesus among the lost in this world is staying focused.  Life is full of many ups and downs, as well as things coming at us from all directions.   Therefore, it is easy to become distracted from where we are going.  Perhaps this is one of the ploys of the evil one, if so, it is very effective.  When the apostle Paul admonished us to put on our armor in Ephesians 6, it brings two important thoughts to my mind.  First, I am engaged in something that requires armor.  Even though I do not see an enemy, it is obvious there is one, because my daily living requires armor.  Secondly, this armor must be sufficient for my battle because God himself chose it.  It is when we fail to put on our armor, that we get “gobbled up” by life.  Suddenly, we find ourselves in situations that should be foreign to a child of God.  It is while we are in these “pig pens” (as was the prodigal son), that we soon notice our behavior takes on  actions that disappoint God- however, we continue anyway.  How it this possible? How can we get so engrossed in our stuff that living for Jesus no longer is paramount in our minds?  Simply put, we forget who  we are and where we are going.  And most importantly we forget who we belong to.  The Hebrew writer if asked would simply tell us, we have taken our eyes off of Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).   Unfortunately, this is easy to do when we feel the “fix” for our troubles lie within us.  As a reminder, God has made us many great promises, and taking care of us through all of life’s challenges is just one of them.  Let us always put our hope and trust in God by resisting the urge to rely on our own strength.   The only way we will survive the war and bring glory to God, is to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.  Blessings.

​~Lamar