Where Is Your Heart?
Basketball
- The audience participates in distracting the opposing team by banging annoying cylinder things together.
- When I played basketball in school, our girls volleyball team would always be there, acting as our cheerleaders. Now, we had a really good team, pretty intimidating team. Our record for the season was 34-2. But I can remember a few times where we in tight spots. I remember that the girls volleyball team would try to help us out by yelling out chants. They would say, “If you think you’re better, ahhh whatever,” to distract our opponents.
Football
- If you’re not cut out to play football, then I would highly discourage you from playing. Talk about distractions! These “bigger than life” boys will do almost everything to distract you. From yelling at you on the scrimmage line, talking about your mama and if that isn’t enough, they’ll let you know your place after they pulverize your face in the grass.
Baseball
- There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, “Henry, you’re holding the bat wrong. You’re supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark.” Aaron didn’t say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, “I didn’t come up here to read.”
Distraction in War
- In war, one of the most common and effective strategy is that of distraction.
- A small group will distract the enemy to draw their attention to them (usually called a Frontal Assault), while a larger group started an attack from the opposite side. Most of the time, this was done to weaken and possible destroy the enemy or have them surrender.
Another Example of Distraction
- There were a group of thieves that used distraction and only distraction to successfully rob grocery stores, convenience stores and other places.
- A couple of the thieves would go in the place they were going to rob and then start a fight or quarrel amongst themselves, totally distracting the employees and other shoppers. Then the other thieves would go in and steal goods or money.
- Most of the time, the places that were robbed didn’t find out until days or weeks after the robbery took place.
Distractions in the Bible
- Some may not think that this is not an example of distraction but I certainly do.
- It takes place when Joshua and the Israelites were about to get victory over Jericho and the Lord, through Joshua, commanded the people to march around the city wall once a day for seven days and on the seventh day, march seven times.
- Joshua 6:10 – “But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!"
- I don’t know about you but if I had thousands of people walking around me and my city for seven days, without saying a word, without yelling the war cry, I’d be freaking out!
- I would probably be totally distracted from what I was going, not able to concentrate on anything!
David’s Distraction
- We all know the story of how David became distracted on his rooftop.
- His distraction led to adultery, then murder, guilt, the death of his first-born son and the list goes on…
- Many men, and some women, face these distractions every day. We need to look at David’s life and not allow our distractions to ruin our lives.
Distractions in our Lives
- I want to take a minute and talk about distraction in our life.
- Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
- What hinders you?
- What entangles you?
- What thoughts captivate your mind?
- Where is your heart?
- Isaiah 29:13 says, “The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
- Jesus later quoted Isaiah the prophet in Matthew 15:7-8.
- It reads, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
- Obviously this was and is important to God. Can we come into God’s presence with our hearts far from Him?
- Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.”
- No one can come to the Lord? No one can enter His presence without a pure heart or pure thoughts and a pure mind.
- Are we too busy to concentrate on Jesus?
When we’re at church:
o Do we concentrate on offering up our sincerest praise during worship or are we writing down our Christmas wish list?
o Do we concentrate on God s Word and how we can apply it to our lives or are we filling out our check books?
o Do we concentrate on entering into the presence of God or are we thinking about the football game?
o Do we concentrate on giving God our best or are we too distracted by Bo s new haircut?
Four Things to Help Minimize Distractions in our Life
1. Prioritize our Life
- Milt Rood worked for years and years in Spokane, WA as a car salesman. He was also very active with the Union Gospel Mission work with juvenile delinquents. Week by week he’d patiently teach the Word and pray with young boys in trouble. One week Milt went into the hospital for an exploratory surgery. The doctors found he was full of cancer. They couldn’t do anything for him. He died within a week. After the funeral, Ron Kinley, a friend remarked, “It’s interesting that at the funeral, no one ever asked how many cars he had sold!”
- That’s because his priorities were in the right place.
- Nothing should be more important than Jesus. No car, no job, no house, no lifestyle. Only Jesus.
- 2 Corinthians 8:2-5 (NIV) – “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then [circle] to us in keeping with God’s will.”
- First to the Lord AND THEN…
2. Hold Every Thought Captive
- God came to Abraham in a vision and made a covenant with him. Abraham, being the faithful servant, did exactly as he was told.
- Genesis 15:9-11 – ”So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.”
- His offering was too precious for him to allow birds to come and devour it. So he took a stand and drove them away.
- Thoughts and distractions fly down on us too and try to take what they can.
- We have to take advice from Abraham and drive them away because they will eventually ruin us, because we are to offer ourselves up as a sacrifice to the Lord.
- God doesn’t want the leftovers; what our thought and distractions didn’t get. He wants us to take control of our thoughts.
3. Stay Focused
- Luke 10:38-42 - ”As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
- Martha was so distracted by all the “stuff” she just “had” to do. Which in actuality, she just needed to sit at Jesus’ feet.
- Our Focus should be on Jesus. Put all other distractions and thoughts aside.
- Colossians 3:1-2 - ”Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
- Make yourself think on things above. Set your heart on things above.
- Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist, testified to this point when he said, “Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin. The road that I traveled was a narrow road and the way was hard.”
- As Christians we too should say, “Narrow is the road of a Christian. Hour after hour, day after day and week after week, for years, I lived with Jesus.”
- When all his teammates fouled out of the game, high school basketball player Pat McGee finished the game for his school alone, and won! This actually happened in 1937 at St. Peter’s High School.
- Stay focused on Jesus and the devil and his distractions will flee.
4. When You Fall, Get Back Up (Be Determined)
- I want to end with a story of a young boy about 12 or 13 years old. For his entire life, the boy wanted to run in a marathon race. It was his passion and desire. Just one race.
- As he got to the starting line, the other boys began to laugh and joke about him. He knew what they we’re doing but he didn’t care. He was about to fulfill his life’s biggest dream.
- One boy yelled, “I hope you have a wheel chair to help you across the finish line, you’re going to need it!”
- I guess I better tell you that the boy was handicapped. He has a metal leg and walked with a hard limp. The braces and metal almost weighted more than his entire body.
- The only thing that was going to stop this boy from running would have to be the second coming of Christ. He was determined and no one was going to change that. He just smiled and waited for the gun to go off.
- The first part of the race seemed to be going well, even though all the other kids were far ahead and out of sight already. The boy just kept running. His smile wider than ever.
Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) – “Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”
