Run From Distraction

Run From Distraction

Often I feel everything I write is more about my flaws than anything else. I guess being a mess is just part of who I am, which oozes confidence fore sure:)

When I was in Uganda, there were far fewer distractions because TV isn't a thing and the Internet was sparse or slow at best. I read more, I prayed more, and I talked with people way more.

The same thing happened on vacation with Amber. Laughter with her replaced laugh tracks and status updates or news feeds.

So here I am again, telling myself and anyone who reads this that we are a collectively too busy and too worried about things that don't matter society. I'm not saying that TV is the devil box, or that all social media is bad, but I am saying that God has wired us for relationship with him and with others. When we place any barriers between this truth and our lives, we become rapidly lost and disconnected.

I feel like a broken record. I feel like I should know better. I feel like I'm not alone in these feelings. I know Jesus taught us all how to live.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.* Matthew 6:25-34

We were made for relationship with the father. Think about all the tension points in our lives and what is at the core of them. Is it working to obtain stuff? Is it striving to achieve position or status? Is it maneuvering to be more acceptable? Is it longing or connection with others?

At the core of our stress is attempting to replace God's rightful and sovereign position as Lord of our lives with self.

We are made to hold the universe of our lives in our own hands. We are made to cling to the creator for each and every day. Whatever you are motivated by or worried about, if it distracts you from how you were meant to thrive you can't function for long.

The solution is found in the words of Christ. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Everything else must flow from this truth or we are lost.