The Danger of Distraction
I have struggled with distraction lately. I am someone who consumes information at times. I don’t know why, maybe it gives me some false sense of security. Well, this year has provided no shortage of information to navigate. I know that I have at times been distracted in a way that is not healthy. My heart has literally been screaming at me, “This is not what I need!” What I need is recognize my limitations and make space to give my heart what it truly needs, the good news of Jesus. When I live in my head, I cease to listen and care for my heart. I concern myself with things that are so far beyond me that I lose sight of living intentionally as a disciple of Jesus right where I am. This robs me of the opportunity to see God’s work in and through me in way that brings joy and allows me to rest content in His love.
Distraction is not a problem unique to me. We live in probably the most distracted era in human history. There is literally no end to the amount of devices, apps, streaming services, social media, online conversations, emails, etc. that are constantly vying for our attention. It is easy to becomes so consumed by the distractions that we cease to listen to our hearts and apply to gospel to them.
John Mark Comer, in his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry quotes Ronald Rolheiser, who says, “We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves into oblivion.”
Comer goes on to quote John Ortberg, who says, “For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.”
Those quotes seem to me to be a pretty good diagnostic of our current age and the danger for us as followers of Jesus. We can distract ourselves into a type of life that is a shrunken kind of life, where we miss the opportunity live fully as members of the Body of Christ in our actual day to day lives.
That is not the kind of life I want to live. I want to experience the life abundant that Jesus came to give. I want to model and lead others into that kind of life as well. This blog from Jeff Vanderstelt is a great reminder of importance to make space to care for our hearts and nourish them with the gospel.
We’re not outside-in people but inside-out people. When we feel that something is wrong with us, most of try to fix the problem by doing. We change our schedule. We tell ourselves we’ll eat better, exercise more, or spend less time on our phones. But the problem isn’t any of those things; the problem is our hearts. They’re sick and in need of God’s help. We can’t change our hearts through behavior modification; we need heart transformation.
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
PSALM 51:9-10
It’s impossible to have a clean heart without gospel transformation. God must come to us and make us new. We need to examine our hearts and invite the Holy Spirit to continue to change us. The gospel isn’t just for the moment we believe. We need the gospel every moment of our lives. Our hearts are made new by the Holy Spirit the moment we believe; they’re renewed as we pursue the Spirit day after day.
No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
LUKE 6:43-45
In this passage Jesus said what comes out of our mouths is born and bred in our hearts. He also spoke the wisdom that good fruit doesn’t come from bad trees. In other words, the fruit of our lives corresponds to the health of our souls. Jesus was explaining that if we want to know what’s going on in our hearts, we must listen to ourselves.
Reflect on the past week. What did you talk about? What did you say to your spouse? Your children? Your friends? What did you say or write in emails to coworkers?
What were the tone, attitude, and emotion behind those words? How did your heart drive what you said?
The beautiful reality of the gospel is that God is concerned about your heart—about your soul. His life, death, and resurrection purposefully restored, redeemed, and healed your heart from the power, presence, and penalty of sin. Jesus didn’t come for the healthy but the sick (see Matt. 9:12). If you are realizing the need in your heart, Jesus is ready to receive you.
We often avoid making space in our lives to focus on our hearts because we’re afraid of being overwhelmed by what we’ll find there. It’s scary to imagine all of our wounds, desires, and disappointments, and we think life is easier if we avoid them and press on. Seeing God as our hope makes us contented children. We find peace in our souls when we wait and hope in God. The Bible invites us to cry out to God. To wait on Him. To find rest.
If you don’t slow down and say, “God, work on my heart; reveal what I’m believing; reveal what I’m thinking; reveal what I’m wanting; reveal what I’m lacking,” you’ll continue to run away from your heart. However, your heart is driving everything you do. If it continues to go unexamined, you’ll lose your life chasing things you don’t even understand. You’ll be tired. Your soul will be exhausted.
It’s possible to be so busy that we never stop to reflect on what God is doing in our hearts.
(Taken from Making Space by Jeff Vanderstelt, ©2018 LifeWay.)