I’ve been reminded lately how much we are distracted from tech. I complain to God that I want more for my life, but then I spend my minutes and my hours on a phone or a screen but in ways that are not pointing to my calling.
Jesus was tempted by distraction all the time. The crowds wanted him around so bad that they chased him around the lake. But he knew he couldn’t fulfill his purpose if he didn’t prioritize prior, so he snuck out while it was still dark to pray.
The sick people clamored for him and yet he didn’t heal them all. Some he just had to heal so he did. But he had to stick with his mission to fulfill his purposes and sometimes, oftentimes, that meant pushing forward to the best and not getting distracted by the enormity of the needs in front of him.
There were also his haters. He was hated and they verbalized it clearly. Many times they tried to kill him. He could have spent his time and energy trying to defend himself, but even doing that would have distracted from his mission. He challenged many and that was his mission. But there a number of times when things got bad he just excused himself instead of trying to defend himself.
Even satan directly tried to distract him. With bread. With power. With easy choices. But Jesus did not and would not allow himself to be distracted.
We are in a position globally where we are intensely tempted to be distracted from our mission. We have work to tend to which is never a 9-5 when you have a phone. We have global events we want to make sure to stay on top of. And when we’re tired we want to choose a YouTube video that fills us back up again. And then there’s everything on the internet that is fun, educational and something we want to see. We get distracted. For hours a day. And it all seems so important.
But if we are to stay on point, to stay on mission, we have to find a way to say no to distractions that hit us at every point. It’s not so easy. Especially when we are in a whole global community of digital addicts.
I need to change in this. My prayer life has suffered. My study has suffered. My purpose in life has suffered. If I don’t find a way out of this I will not be able to fulfill the call God has on my life.
