One Way to Avoid Distractions

In a world that bombards us with options and distractions, it takes real effort, a conscious decision, to stay focused on the primary and important things of life. In the course of any given day, not only do we have to navigate around and through the options and distractions, but we also will have to tackle the urgent, that thing that needs immediate attention. And in doing so, often what we set out to do somehow gets delayed, or worse yet, never done.

In a 1967 booklet titled Tyranny of the Urgent, author Charles Hummel wrote about the constant tension between things that are urgent and things that are important. Years later, building upon the urgent vs. important theme, Stephen Covey created a four-quadrant decision matrix in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Whether it is endless options and distractions, or dealing with the urgencies that pop up, do you find it increasingly more difficult to stay focused on the important things in life? With age and after having faced two serious health issues in recent years, I am getting better at putting my time and energy into what is important, but it will always continue to take a concerted effort on my part. This isn’t to say that I ignore the urgent, because those often need addressed in that moment, but I work hard to not let those drown out the important things. For instance, earlier this week, I had to work through some short-term disability issues that needed my immediate attention, and that could have easily sidetracked ad messes up the entire day, but I did not let those urgencies come at the expense of what was important; doing my therapy exercises and carving out time to allow my injured to rest.

If you are a Jesus-follower, I think you will agree that it also takes real commitment to stay focused on the things God has called us to do. The distractions are numerous. They never stop coming. We get distracted for any number of reasons. Distractions have been around since the original garden. Satan is crafty and deceptive. He loves to throw distractions into our path, to keep us from God and from the things of God. Those distractions, they aren’t always dressed in black and have a putrid smell. Sometimes they come dressed in pretty clothes smelling of sweet fragrance. I wrote a reflection on that very thing last year. You can read that post by clicking here.   

Anything that diverts us from what God has called us to do, even the slightest variation, is not pleasing to him. In 2 Timothy 2:15, we are called to “Do your best to present yourself pleasing to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” The apostle Paul says this, found in 2 Corinthians 5:9 – “So whether we are at home or away (meaning whether at his Second Coming we are still alive or have already died), we make it our aim to please him.”

So, just how do we make it our aim to be pleasing to God? One way, what we have looked at today, is to make a conscious and concerted effort to avoid the distractions that keep us from the things of God. And one way to do that is to always look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2), keeping our heart, soul, mind focused on him. Or put like this – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).

What is one thing you will do today to avoid becoming distracted?

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