Distractions

As my Covenant Group has been working through Matt Chandler’s study in Philippians for the past several weeks, God has used him to bring forth some very difficult questions that I have to answer, particularly about my passions and affections toward Jesus. When I read Paul say things like, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ,” I find myself wondering why I don’t have those same intense affections for Christ that Paul did. But it’s not just Paul. The scriptures are full of passages like this.

In Psalm 63 we read David crying out, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” David compares his longings for God with dying of thirst! Why don’t I feel like that about Jesus? Paul also points out in Romans 8 out that even creation longs to be liberated from its bondage and decay, yearning to be brought into the freedom and glory Christ offers. So, why don’t I have these deep cravings for Jesus like David and Paul had, and like the creation around me still has? 

There are two main things that keep me/us from having these deep affections and longings for Jesus. One is sin, and the other is distraction. Hebrews 12 tells us we need to “throw off everything that hinders AND the sin that so easily entangles” so that we can focus on Jesus. This passage distinguishes between things that hinder, and sin that entangles. There are things that are not necessarily sinful, but if not kept in check, will still keep us from Jesus. We live in a culture that’s full of these distractions. Screens and noise overwhelm us, and our calendars are full of events that keep us running from place to place. We seldom have opportunities to sit in a quiet room and think, considering the things that stir our affections. But we need to. We all need time to check our hearts, and to ask ourselves what are the things that STIR our affections FOR Christ, and what are the things that ROB our affections FROM Him? Distractions keep us busy with things that are secondary and hinder us from pursuing that which is primary: Christ. And eventually those distractions will lead to bad habits, and bad habits will turn into opportunities for sin to creep in. So, what are your distractions?

I have many of them, and there have been many times in my life when I’ve allowed those distractions to take my focus off Jesus, and I’ve slipped into sin because of them. Have you? It’s very easy to do. So, what do you do once you’re in that place of sin again? I’ve found that my natural tendency is to tell myself that I’ve got to “do better” in order to get myself back on track with God. But that’s NOT the gospel.

Paul reminds us in Chapter 3 of Philippians what the TRUE gospel is. Paul reminds us that he doesn’t have “a righteousness of his own that comes from following the law,” but has “a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” And if anyone has a right to boast in his works it’s Paul, but he says, NO! It’s not about what I can do to make myself better. It’s about KNOWING JESUS! He says, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Paul doesn’t want to be hindered or distracted by secondary things. Paul doesn’t care about his accomplishments. Paul isn’t worried about cleaning up his life. His only concern is KNOWING JESUS and making Him known. 

Josh