We Don't Do Distractions

We Don’t Do Distractions

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil”.

I like so many I am sure have found myself being drawn in by the news media, I find myself channel surfing between CNN, MSNBC, and the Local News so much that I almost get motion-sick from all the back and forth. This week once again I was again woken up around 2:30 in the morning and God was telling me to stop being distracted. He said all the news was doing is distracting me from what He has for me to do. Understand, every distracted minute is an unrecoverable, wasted, lost and frozen in the permanent past unrecoverable and unable to be used opportunity for growth and achievement. Sure, you need to understand what is going on in the world but stop being distracted with what is happening and focus on My Word and what I said. I was being distracted and consumed with what is being done and what is said and it was causing me to loose focus on God and my purpose.

My wife wanted a book, and we got it, and she is reading it now. She was telling me about it, and I have briefly browsed portions of it but what I have talked with her about, and seen what they have talked about on different interviews has really caught my attention which is what the book is actually about. The name of the book is “The Sirens Call” by Chris Hayes. Chris Hayes is a journalist and anchor on MSNBC. His book is about the battle for attention, He states that is what the Internet companies, advertisers, entertainers and politicians demand of us so constantly that we can't pay attention. He also states that the thing that is finite in the information age, as we call it, is attention. In an interview He uses the analogy of the wind and says “You can't control the wind, and you have to take it seriously as an actual force outside of you. If you don't do that, you're not going to get very far. At the same time, the craft that you develop over time is how to figure out how to use technique to capture that wind and move the boat in the direction you want to go. There are certain things that are capturing people's attention at a given moment, and I can't control them en masse. But what I can do is sort of sense where those winds are blowing and attempt to use my rhetorical tool kit to get the show and the audience's attention to end up in the destination that I want it to end up in”.

Although Chris Hayes is talking about attention and I haven’t read the entire book yet I gleaned from what he is saying and see how the Devil uses the same techniques to distract us from focusing on the things God has for us drawing our attention to other superficial things directing our attention in a direction he wants us to go, distracting us from our purpose, and ultimately causing us to miss out on the blessing God has for us.

If we are going to be successful in our walk with God, and in accomplishing our goals, we must learn how to overcome distractions and stay focused in the midst of a distracting world.

We Don’t Do Distractions.

PRAYER

SCRIPTURES: - 2 Timothy 2:4 “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier”.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”.

DEFINITION: - Webster’s dictionary defines the word distraction as something that directs one’s attention away from something else. A distraction is something that takes our attention away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We are not engaged in what is happening around us. It interferes with our concentration and focus. Simply put, distractions are meant to shift our focus.

Distractions can come in the form of people, things, specific places or environments, circumstances, thoughts, or temptations. Distractions can come from all angles – in ways we least expect, from people we don’t expect, at times we aren’t expecting. And they can end up costing us time, happiness, peace, relationships, money, success, our lives and salvation.

As children of God, when we start to lose sight of God, His Word, and His plan for our lives, because of distractions it can lead us in the wrong direction towards sin, missed opportunities, missed blessings, and discipline from God. Losing sight of God also causes us to live in fear, anger, worry, frustration, and doubt. I can personally say as I was getting drawn by the news and all the negative attention-grabbing menagerie of pollution, corruption, asinine antics, and utter buffoonery that was coming across the airways that I found myself getting angry, frustrated, and doubting and wondering how we were going to make it and wishing certain things would take place and even felt a sense of righteous indignation and prayed like David in Psalms 143:12 “And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant”. No so much that I personally was being wronged but I was being distracted and directed in another direction.