Please tell me I’m not the only person this has happened to!
I was due to take a zoom call and the guy I was talking to had even reminded me a couple hours before. Then distraction hit. I was trying to finish my income tax return, got lost in the detail and missed the call. Thankfully he’s a merciful man and we’ll be able make up the call later.
Distraction in this case was more of an inconvenience for my friend than anything else, but it can be the root of far more serious problems. For instance, the other day my friend Jon was driving his transport truck in Indiana, and another equally massive truck pulled out of a gas station right in front of him. The driver was distracted, so distracted he failed to see a fifty or sixty foot long vehicle coming right at him. Watching the video made my heart stop. Jon hit the brakes and ground to a halt with what looked like inches to spare. If he had been anything less than totally attentive, he might well be dead.
Distraction can be a spiritual problem too. I had two consecutive zoom calls with church leaders this week, one right after the other, in which I wound up giving exactly the same advice. They were in different countries but facing the identical problem. A lot of dust was being cast up in their churches over certain theological issues. My advice in both cases was to keep your eyes on the main thing God has called you to do, which is to preach the Gospel and teach the Scriptures as faithfully as you can. Don’t get distracted running around putting out fires which in the end will probably put themselves out.
There has been a massive amount of distraction in the church as a result of all we have gone through the last year. People have got caught up in foolish conspiracy theories and become preoccupied with reading the tea leaves of current events. A lot of that is a result of the mistaken and misguided eschatology so many people hold, which leads them to look for apocalyptic events around every corner.
Meanwhile the significant upheaval we are all going through requires us to focus very carefully and listen very closely to what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying through it all. But are we too distracted to discern?
If you’re playing soccer you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball. If you’re playing hockey you’ve got to watch out for the puck. The greatest hockey player of all time was so focused he had an unerring sense not only of where the puck was at any given moment, but where it was going to be in the next moment.
Has God got your attention? If he doesn’t have the church’s attention after this past year, I may fall into despair. It’s time like never before to heed the angelic warning to the churches and hear what the Spirit is saying.
Get rid of the distractions in your life. Keep your eye on the main things. Your future and your life may depend on it.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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