Do You Get Distracted?

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee”.  Isaiah 26:3

How easily do you get distracted?  I find that it is very easy to get distracted from the task at hand.  I can be cleaning a room and find something I haven’t seen in a while that gets my attention, and pretty soon I have stopped cleaning and have become involved in something else.  Sometimes I don’t even get back to the cleaning, at least not right away.  When I am doing my workout while watching an exercise DVD, I have to keep my mind on it otherwise, if my mind wanders, I will miss a step.  Before hand-held cell phones were outlawed while driving, a friend was so engrossed in his phone that he ran a red light.  Thankfully he didn’t cause an accident.  I finally figured out that if I can’t find my keys, glasses, or the remote control, it is because I was thinking about something else when I laid them down in a place other than their regular place.  That’s why it is good to have a place for everything and everything in its place.  We just have to discipline ourselves to follow that rule.  If we are diligent about putting things back in their place, we will save a lot of time in not having to hunt all over the house for a lost item, which is very frustrating.

Along with many other things, distraction is another tool in the devil’s arsenal to keep us from being about our Father’s business.  One of the most annoying distractions happens while we pray.  I can be communing with the Lord and praying for a particular person, and then begin to think about that person and past times spent with that person, and then that leads to other thoughts and so on.  Suddenly, I realize that my prayer has gone from an intimate conversation with the Lord to a stroll down memory lane, and I must shake off those memories and get back to praying.  Distractions also happen in church.  We can be listening intently to the pastor’s sermon, and then a thought will come to mind leading us to stop listening and let our minds wander.  When we realize that we are lost in thought and have likely missed some great points made by the pastor, we focus back onto the sermon.  In times past, I have sat in church and listened to a somewhat boring sermon, and it is difficult to keep focused in that case.  However, God’s word is the most interesting book ever written, and it is difficult for someone to make it boring.  Most pastors that I have sat under have a real passion for preaching God’s word, and it comes across in their delivery and sermons.  Even so, it is sometimes difficult to not let one’s mind wander.

Distraction is annoying but it is also an enemy to a peaceful mind.  I get frustrated when I can’t seem to keep my mind on whatever it is in which I am involved at the moment.  Frustration is an enemy to peace.  The verse above tells us that those whose mind is focused on the Lord will be kept in perfect peace.  Webster’s Dictionary defines perfect as “complete in all respects; without defect or omission; sound; flawless”.  The world has denigrated and abused the word “perfect”, just as it has other words like awesome, wonderful, and great, all terms which describe Almighty God.  Anything from a hairdo to a pizza is sometimes described as “awesome”.  There are not enough attributes in the English language to accurately describe the awesomeness of God.  He cannot be confined to mere words and descriptions.  He is way bigger than that!  Perfect peace of and with Him is a complete absence of mental conflict–no worries, strife, or depression.  This kind of peace can only be obtained by complete trust in the Lord and keeping one’s mind and heart on Him throughout all situations and events.

The term “stayed” in Hebrew is the word “camak” which means “to prop, to lean upon, and to take hold of”.  Thus, we see that keeping our mind “stayed” on the Lord goes a lot further than just “thinking” about Him.  The same principle applies to repentance.  To repent of sin doesn’t just mean to be sorry for our sins, but to turn from them.  Commitment to Christ is not just going to church, reading a short devotional, saying a memorized prayer, and dropping a few dollars into the collection plate.  It is a lifelong relationship that exceeds all other relationships.  Earthly marriage ends at the death of a spouse, but the believer’s relationship to Christ extends throughout eternity.

I don’t have any sure-fire solutions for keeping ourselves from being distracted.  It takes a concerted effort to focus on the task at hand whether it involves prayer, Bible study, or other day to day tasks.  There are some folks who can keep themselves so focused that the building could catch on fire, and it wouldn’t break their concentration.  For me, it only takes one simple thought to disrupt my concentration.  But I am working on it.  I surely am glad that we have a Savior who understands our frailties and faults and loves us anyway.