Amidst the silliness of our world, we must maintain focus. But doing that is becoming increasingly more challenging.
Whenever I fire up my computer and land on the home page of my default browser, I see teasers from all these attention-grabbing human interest and news articles. Sometimes, I am tempted to click on a couple of them before proceeding to do what I logged on to do. Realizing the potential distraction, I quickly get back on focus.
Then there is social media. Facebook is one of the platforms I use a few minutes a day. Most of my Facebook friends are self-professed Christians. When I view what’s in my feed, it amazes me how often some of these friends post, about anything and everything. I wonder how they got much of anything else done. I notice that same zeal on other popular social media platforms I have tried.
We will maintain focus in this world only if we are diligent to do so. Consider these words from the book of Hebrews: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1, KJV). Moreover, the writer says we must run our race fixing our eyes upon Jesus (verse 2).
That means we must abandon those things that distract or weigh us down so we can maintain focus on the race before us. The extent to which we do the former determines how successfully we can accomplish the latter.
Getting Back in the Race
We have become too attached to our smart phones and other digital toys. Many of us spend excessive hours being entertained by Netflix, Hulu, cable TV, satellite dishes, etc. How can we navigate the countless things in this world that entangle us? The Scriptures place that burden of responsibility upon us. We must lay aside these unnecessary “weights” in our life.
Let me put the mind of some of you at ease. God is not against your smart phone, your favorite social media platform, or your love for movies. They are not in and of themselves a weight to the race set before you. They only become a problem when you become preoccupied with these things.
When you love them so much that you neglect time for cultivating your relationship with God, they have become unnecessary weights that need to be addressed. Or when the things of this world have extinguished your passion to be about the Father’s business.
Does that sound anything like you? If so, how committed are you to getting your Christian journey back on track?
We are in this world but not of it. We cannot be properly focused if we follow the way of this world. It has no sense of where it is going. God wants us to lay aside the things of this world that hinder and distract us and run our race fixing our eyes upon Jesus.
“Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
James 4:4, NASB
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