Dedicated Or Distracted

DEDICATED OR DISTRACTED

(where is your focus)

1 Corinthians 7:29-35 (NLT)

Intro:

In one scene of the popular movie Robin Hood, The Prince of Thieves, Kevin Costner as Robin comes to a young man taking aim at an archery target. Robin asks, "Can you shoot amid distractions?"

Just before the boy releases the string, Robin pokes his ear with the feathers of an arrow. The boy’s shot flies high by several feet.

After the laughter of those watching dies down, Maid Marian, standing behind the boy, asks Robin, "Can you?"

Robin Hood raises his bow and takes aim. Just as he releases the arrow, Maid Marian leans beside him and flirtatiously blows into his face. The arrow misses the target, glances off the tree behind it, and scarcely misses a bystander.

Distractions come in all types, and whether they are painful or pleasant, the result is the same: we miss God’s mark.

. It is hard to remain focused isn’t it? Life for many of us consists of rabbit trails rather than highways.

We are always on the move, but not really getting anywhere. The distractions of life dictate our decisions and control our schedules. We make a lot of plans, but get very little done.

The phone rings. We need something at the store. We want to check our email. We get caught in the web of the internet following a story, looking up something, blogging, reading other people’s blogs, checking the weather, looking to see if the Braves have finally won a game, or just catching up on the news and the elections that are happening all across our country.

The kids need to be dropped off, and then they need picked up. Something needs cleaned or repaired. A stack of books are begging to be read. Even making lists of things that need to be done is a distraction.

The problem is that it all seems important, or at least necessary. Our lives are filled with the urgent, and we have no time for the eternal.

We have tended to a million little things and left undone the big things. We have filled the day with things that do not ultimately matter and left undone the things that do matter.

We have done what seemed necessary and neglected what was essential.

Days turn into months and months into years, and our lives have become trivialized by distractions.

. We are busy people, aren't we?

. We are back in 1 Corinthians this morning and Paul addresses the issue of not being distracted in our service to God. How we should not get so involved in the Earthly and forget the eternal.

. If you will remember, in 1 Corinthians, Paul is answering some questions that the new believers in Corinth had about various things.

The first question was about Christian marriage.

. We looked at the marriage relationship that God intended here a few weeks ago.

. We looked at the relationship that should exist between a husband and a wife.

. Paul continues those thoughts on into chapter 7 here and then close to the end starting in verse 29, he tells us what the marriage and family relationships should like in regards to our faith.

. As I told you when we started in 1 Corinthians, This is a letter of correction and can hit us pretty hard. This scripture this morning will challenge us and our dedication to God.

. Lets read our scripture. 1 Corinthians 7:29-3

29But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage.

30Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions

31Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.

32I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him.

33But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife.

34His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.

35I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.

. The first thing we see here is that we should not get so caught up in something that keeps us from serving God.