Don't be distracted!

Life is full of distractions. It doesn’t matter what you put your mind to do, there will be some sort of distraction. While common to life, distractions can end in pain, suffering, and even tragedy.

I recently heard of a tragic accident in a circus during the “big cat” show, where the lion tamers enter a cage with the dangerous big cats such as lion, tigers etc. In this case, the lion tamer was tragically injured when he was attacked by one of the lions. The day of the accident was the same as any other day - just another circus act, just another town, doing the same thing they have been doing for years. The lion tamer was well aware of dangers associated with these animals and was well experienced. But one day tragedy stuck when he became, in his own words “distracted”.

Later, while lying in a hospital bed paralysed, with little hope of ever walking again, the lion tamer told reports that he had simply become “distracted”. When questioned about what distracted him, he replied that he could not recall what it was – “I was just distracted”. It is sad enough that this man’s life was never going to be the same – but it was even more of a tragedy that this man was nothing more than the result of a distraction. The irony of the story is that something had captured his attention, only for a moment, but now he could not even recall what it was.

While distractions in the physical world can result in tragedy, the same applies to the spiritual world. Spiritual distractions are just as fatal. Distractions to our soul!

Most people that I have seen backslide into the world didn’t do it because they woke up one day and decided that they no longer loved God. In all cases, it was simply a distraction. Like the lion tamer, when you ask them what it was they usually cannot recall what it was. They can't tell you what distracted them and resulted in them walking so far from God. It was a distraction that allowed the enemy of their soul to maime them and lay them down a cripple in the presence of God.

There are so many things in this world that would try to distract us from our relationship with Jesus. We cannot let anything get between us and our relationship with Jesus! Jesus said “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched” (Mark 9:43).

This was God’s way of telling us – we may make mistakes that cause pain and suffering – but Jesus would rather us make it to heaven with a handicap than to go to hell with everything we have. We cannot afford to make a mistake with your soul. Physical distractions cause us pain and suffering for a time. But spiritual distractions have an eternal consequence.

Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back (distractions), is fit for the kingdom of God.

The most grievous errors and mistakes are the ones taking place in the heart of men and women – distractions to our souls. A distraction to men and women who love God and know God and want to live for God and somehow become distracted by the things of this world – only for a moment – but ending in disaster!

That's my five minutes!