Things that Sabotage Our Success – Part 4 – Distractions
(By Ben Froncek)
Opening Reading: Luke 10:38-42
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (NIV)
This past week I read a story someplace on the internet (I can’t remember where) about a young woman who dreamed of becoming a great violinist. She knew how important it was to be dedicated to the art and practice every day but for some reason at first she did not seem to have enough time to practice like she wanted to. You see, after she got up in the morning she had a routine where she would eat her breakfast, exercise, shower, do some light housework like make her bed, put away her dishes, start a load of laundry, sweep or vacuum the floor, pay any bills that may have come, put out the mail, check her email and face book accounts, call her mother, run to the store for groceries and so on. By that time she was ready to eat lunch, then fold the laundry, go out and get the mail and go through it… And before she knew it either the day was almost over or she had no energy to practice her violin the way she needed to.
So she became frustrated because she thought that she would have more time to practice living on her own than she did living at college or in her parent’s home. She realized that she was even more distracted and was continually being sidetracked from doing what she needed to do to reach her goal.
After thinking about it, she realized that her everyday routine and these distractions were sabotaging her future and she knew that she had to make some changes. From that point on she decided to dedicate the first two hours of each morning to her music and violin; and so those other chores had to wait until after her practice time was complete. And because of that change she went on to become a great musician.
As you have seen in this series of lessons, there are all kind of things that can sabotage or even short circuit our success. It may be because of our own ‘Stinkin Thinkin,’ when we start doubting our own ability or whether we even deserve anything better that what we already have, or even our own unwillingness to change our particular routine and get out of those unproductive ruts. Last week we talked about the danger of thinking we have to wait on or for others to accomplish our goals. I also talked about the danger of listening to those naysayers in our life and letting them discourage us.
Today we are dealing with a very familiar problem; the distractions in life.
You may really, really want to do something, or accomplish something just like this young lady who had a dream of becoming a great violinist. You may have the ability, the talent, the drive, the support from family and friends, but somehow we allow all these other things in life to consume our time and trip us up.
In our opening reading today we read a story about two women, Mary and Martha. And what did the text say about Martha who was all agitated because her sister Mary wasn’t running around like a chicken with her head cut off like she was? The text says that Martha was distracted. Distracted from what, to do what? She was more consumed with the housework and preparation of food for her guests than with spending quality time with the Lord Himself.
We can get sidetracked or distracted by all kinds of things; some good and also by things that are not so good and which may be sinful.
We wonder where our time goes and why we can’t seem to make time for doing and learning new things, or achieving new goals. There is all kinds of busy work and chores we can get caught up doing like our violinist and Martha. But there are also other things that absorb some of our limited time. For example listen to these updated statistics:
The average American over the age of 2 spends more than 34 hours a week watching live television, says a new Nielsen report — plus another three to six hours watching taped programs. In fact, adults are exposed to various screens — TVs, cellphones, even G.P.S. devices — for about 8.5 hours on any given day, according to a study released by the Council for Research Excellence. It’s been estimated that American people spend about 1/3 of the time awake plugged into some kind of screen.
Couple that with the time you spend at work, and then doing household chores we all have to do, time we spend checking in or on family members (whether paying them a visit or calling them on the phone), time we take to eat and take care of our bodies, and time we take to rest and sleep, no wonder we don’t have time to accomplish anything new, exciting or great.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Lost time is never found again.”
The Bible is literally full of examples of people who allowed themselves to get distracted or be sidetracked by things causing them to get off track or sink.
Peter wanted to walk on water, but after he took his first few steps on water after leaving the boat heading toward Jesus, we read that he was distracted by the wind and the waves. He took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink.
In my younger days I hung around a friend who raised champion hunting dogs. When they wanted to train a young Beagle to become a Field Champion, they would run it with a mature seasoned beagle. Why? Because the older beagle would stay on course and follow only one rabbit trail. You may have heard stories where a young hunting dog would start off following one animal’s trail to be sidetracked by another animal’s trail that crossed their path. It would continue to jump from one scent and one animal to another. But a seasoned dog will stay true to that one course.
I think many of us are like that young dog that hops from on animal to another. It’s like we have A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) or something. We start out doing one thing and we get sidetracked and start doing something else, and before you know it we wind up doing ten things and never finish the one thing we started out to do. We allow our self to get sidetracked too easily and many of us don’t manage our time very efficiently. We wind up being late for appointments, late for work, late for church, late for everything because we get distracted or sidetracked and then we wonder why we can’t learn something new or achieve our any of our goals.
Concerning getting sidetracked by things that can distract us, Solomon wrote some very wise words in Proverbs 4:23-27 Listen to what he wrote:
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. 24Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. 25 Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.26 Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. 27 Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.” (NLT)
So what is Solomon’s advise?
• #1 Determine what you want to do. Focus in on what you what to do or achieve. There is a purpose for your life and it is important to discover that purpose and not let a thousand little distractions rob you of it.
• #2 Mark out a straight, safe path, or the quickest way to get there. Drop unimportant things, even if is disappoints some people
• #3 Stick to that path and keep your eyes on the goal. Move from living life aimlessly to living you life with a purpose. Remember you are capable of doing great things with God’s help.
• #4 Don’t let petty things in life distract or sidetrack you from achieving what you really want to do.
• #5 Guard your heart and keep you heart from following any kind of evil. Why? because there are plenty of things out there to lure you away from your goal. That’s why these things are called temptations. People spend hours and hours and sometimes a lifetime pursuing corrupt, ungodly, destructive, evil behavior or things. And that is such a waste. Many of us know people who are consumed with alcohol, drugs, or maybe even TV.
• #6 Focus on keeping the main thing the main thing.
The problem is that the main thing gets crowded out by a lot of things that are not even related to the main thing.
The problem is that the main thing gets crowded out by a lot of things that are not even related to the main thing.
I can’t help but think of Paul’s words as he talked about achieving the goal of his life, and that was to become like Christ and sharing in His resurrection. Concerning this
Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Notice the urgency and drive in Paul’s words.‘Press on’, ‘Straining’
So try not to allow too many things to sidetrack or distract you from doing what you really want to do.
I pray that this series of lesson will help you in years to come.
In closing I want to encourage you to dream and pursue some of those ideas and goal that you have. You never know, some of them may have been given to you by God Himself.
Don’t under-estimate you ability, value, or worth. Don’t be satisfied with the status que, and don’t simply settle for the rut you are in. Be flexible, and willing to try something new.
Don’t let the naysayer lead you to believe something is impossible if you know you can do it.
Trust in the Lord and His desire to bless you and help you. And remember as you pursue life, always put Him first.
For more lessons click on the following link:http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566