Culture of Distraction

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to lose your focus on things? Maybe its just me, but I have not been able to focus on anything lately, especially school (which is quite unfortunate). There are always so many other things to do that are more entertaining and appealing than learning about the sympathetic nervous system or the pathology of inflammation. I know, it sounds difficult to find something more fun than that. Trust me, it's possible. So, this got me thinking, how many times do I try to find something more entertaining and appealing than following God?

In the book Crazy Love, Francis Chan explores how much our God loves us yet how hard we run away from it most of the time. I absolutely love this book, you should read it. In the first chapter, he says "In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him." When I first read that, my defenses went up immediately. 'I don't have to remind myself of God, He's always on my mind.' Then I started thinking about it and realized that that is unfortunately very far from the truth. I consistently, daily let numerous things distract my attention from the Lord including school, friends, and family. I look back and see how grossly distracted I was when I had a boyfriend, and praise God that He rescued me from that. I had made that relationship my god, completely disregarding the fact that our God will not be ignored or made second best.

"But I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Saviour except me. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me." Hosea 13:4-6

When times are hard, it's easy to turn to the Lord because we know He'll come get us out of the mess we've made for ourselves. However, it's when times are easy, when nothing is really challenging the lives we've made for ourselves, that seems to be when it's also easiest to get distracted. We begin to fill ourselves with all the pleasures of this world, nonchalantly turning our backs on the Lord who has brought us out of our own Egypts. It isn't a conscious choice, more of a decision to follow passively instead of actively. If we were to use the "swim upstream" analogy, most of the American church is floating downstream. We want to swim against the current, but that is really difficult and exhausting, so we become content to just float along, allowing the river to take us wherever it goes. . Sadly, most of the time that river takes us further and further away from the passionate pursuit of our God. All credit for this thought goes to Francis Chan, page 95 of Crazy Love

But, no matter how far we float away from Him, God will not let us go. He always comes back from us, rescuing us from the currents of idolatry and greed and everything else we let overtake our minds. Like Paul wrote in Romans "[nothing] else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." God will not let us go Thanks Matt Redman no matter how hard we run from him or pursue other things. There is nothing worth saving in us, yet God looks past our dirt, seeing only His righteousness covering us, and steps in to save the day. Meaning us. From ourselves. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty glad I serve a God who passionately pursues us despite our worthlessness and filth. I'm so grateful that He wants to overwhelm us with His crazy love.

"The wildest part is that Jesus doesn't have to love us. His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Ephesians 1:18). The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time." Francis Chan, Crazy Love