THE COST OF DISTRACTION
2 Corinthians 4:4
"...But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age [Satan] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."
Allan was a big Canadian guy... 6'5" about 325 pounds. He was a giant of a man. I had him in a tree stand before daylight and shortly after daylight some deer came in. Allan had never shot a deer with his bow and was happy to shoot any deer that gave him the opportunity.
As one doe came into range he concentrated on the spot he wanted to hit, drew back his custom made longbow and released the arrow. To him it seemed as if the arrow was flying in super slow motion and suddenly, when the arrow found its mark, it went back to normal speed. The deer ran off and it was easy to see that he had made a good shot.
Allan quickly started gathering his hunting gear, not taking too much care in stuffing things into his backpack. He lowered his prized possession, his longbow down on a rope first, then his back pack... he was still shaking with excitement when he double checked to make sure everything was put away. Excited to go find his trophy he turned around one last time to make one last check for gear. In his haste he stepped off the side of the platform stand and fell 16 feet to the ground below.
Allan spent most of that day in the emergency room and then laid up in camp as his friends finished their hunt. That 2 seconds of distraction cost Allan several weeks off of work, after a major surgery to repair his ankle. If he had just not been distracted by the excitement of the moment.
This is the way that our spiritual life can go sometimes. We work hard to keep our eyes on God. Spending time with Him in prayer and time in His word. The more time we spend doing these things, the closer we will come to God and knowing His will for our lives. Then one day we start looking around and instead of concentrating on what God has straight in front of us, we start getting distracted and our path starts to wander away from His will.
This is what happened to King David. God had blessed David with anything and everything he desired. He had made him king at a very young age. He was successful in every battle that he went into in war. He had become very wealthy and loved by his people. Then in 2 Samuel 11:2-5 we read of David ignoring his blinders and allowing his eyes and life to wander from what God had set before him.
2 Samuel 11:2-5
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite." 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home."
David was supposed to be out with his army at that time and he had stayed at home. He was up wandering on his roof when he took his eyes off of what God had for him and he looked on in lust... at another man's wife. Not only did he look on with lust, but then he slept with his neighbor's wife, then lied about it, trying g to cover it up.... Then he committed murder to make sure it was covered up.
David, "A man after God's own heart", a man that was known to keep his focus on what God had set before him... had allowed Satan to remove his blinders and the sins that followed cost him dearly, for the entire rest of his life!
If we want to be successful as a Christian we must keep blinders on, concentrating on God and what He has before us. As soon as we start to become distracted by the world and it's sinful things, our lives will change.... And not for the better.
Allan was quickly distracted by the excitement of the harvest and it cost him the remainder of his week of hunting and several weeks of work... We don't know what the cost is when we lose sight of God.... But rest assured, there will be a cost.
Jesus wasn't distracted from the job He had to do...
Hebrews 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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