Distractions, Distractions, Distractions!
They seem to be everywhere and anywhere. I look to the left and there's my phone, I look to the right and there's the television.
My heart and soul desperately wants and needs to get its 'daily bread' from the Word, but my flesh is weak and desperately wants the bread in the fridge toasted with butter and jam, and while I'm at it a hot cup of tea to go with it.
Of course none of these things are 'bad' but sometimes distractions can take our precious time away and distract us from what is the most important thing of all, our relationship with Christ.
The source
God is often likened to being the 'source' of life where we must continually go to be filled so that living waters can flow out from us.
I love this picture of fresh, living waters flowing out of me and not stagnate, murky or smelly water. Yet in order to have a continual flow of this beautiful fresh water I must remain in Him.
'Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine'. John chapter 15, verse 4
Time is precious
Our time is so precious! It is the only thing I can really think of that we can never get back and it is something I am conscious of using wisely.
Here is a little from God's Word on the topic of spending our time wisely.
'Teach us how short our lives really are so that we may be wise'. Psalm chapter 90, verse 12
'Anyone who loves learning accepts correction, but a person who hates being corrected is stupid'. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 1
'Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer'. Proverbs chapter 13, verse 20
'If someone is lazy, the roof will begin to fall. If he doesn't fix it, the house will leak'. Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 18
And the passage Proverbs chapter 4, verses 20–26, has some wonderful words of wisdom I encourage you to read.
New habits
I have been challenged lately of how I use my 'free time', and while I feel I don't have a lot of it these days, the five minutes here and there can really add up. Before I know it the day has gone and I didn't quite get to open my Bible, or go for that walk to pray because to be perfectly honest, I let the many little distractions, distract me.
Some of these distractions have now become habits without me even realising it.
For example, and I am being quite transparent here, when I wake up the first thing I do is look at my phone. And I would love to say I go straight to my Bible app but most days I go straight to Instagram or Facebook! So for me, I feel I need to create a new habit of not going to my phone but opening my daily devotion and reading that instead!
So let us come to our Lord and ask Him to reveal to us if any of life's distractions are taking our time away that could otherwise be spent with Him.
Jo Fuller is an early childhood teacher with degrees in journalism and education. She currently lives on the Sunshine Coast with her husband and baby son.
Jo Fuller archive of articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/jo-fuller.html
