How many of you are like me and are easily distracted? I will confess that I am the most single-minded person you may ever meet. I can only focus on one thing at a time. I do not multi-task. I’m not saying I don’t multi-task well; I simply don’t multi-task. That goes for almost everything that I do. For example, it is difficult for me to navigate and have a conversation if I am driving. This past weekend Stacey and I were driving down 395. My wife was talking to me. I don’t even remember what the conversion was about but I was trying hard to listen, and twice, not just once, but twice, I missed my turn because I was navigating and having a conversion simultaneously. That just doesn’t work for me. I am an easily distracted person. I cannot focus on more than one thing at a time.
Last week, we started our Advent series called Travel Light.
During Advent, we are reminded of Mary and Joseph’s epic journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. However, that was just the beginning of their journey with Jesus. Eventually, their journey with Jesus would lead Mary to the foot of the cross, where she would watch her firstborn son die—sacrificed for the sins of the whole world and sacrificed so we might have new and abundant lives.
The key to our own journey with Jesus is learning to pack well but travel light. As we go along our journey, we pick up things. We accumulate things that keep us from traveling light. These are the things that keep us from living the life we desire and that God wants for us: things like physical clutter and stuff, things like bitterness and control, our past, and things that are distractions.
This morning, the title of my sermon is Traveling Light by Letting Go of Distractions.
The word distraction comes from the Latin word that means a pulling apart, separating, or drawing of the mind in different directions, mental confusion or bewilderment.
Our enemy, the devil, wants to keep us ineffective in our relationship with Jesus. And he understands something about our nature.
Our enemy doesn’t need to destroy us if he can distract us.
If he can pull apart and separate our focus from Jesus, if he can draw our mind away from Jesus by distracting us, we will eventually take ourselves out. We do the job for him when we are distracted from the most important things in our journey with Jesus.
In Luke 10 there is an account of Jesus and the disciples going to the house of Martha and Mary. They are the sisters of Lazarus. You may recall his story and how he was raised from the dead by Jesus. Look at what it says:
Luke 10:38-40 (CSB)— While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”,
It says that Martha was distracted by her many tasks. She prepared food, set the table, refilled people’s drinks, and did important tasks. Look how Jesus responds to Martha’s frustration that her sister is not helping her with these important tasks:
Lk 10:41-42 (CSB)—The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”
We are distracted when we shift our attention from something of greater importance to something of lesser importance.
“Martha, I know you are doing important things, but there are greater things at hand.”
Martha wasn’t doing something bad. She was doing good things! Thank God there are people like Martha! If we did not have Marthas, we would never eat on time, the bills would never get paid, and when the kids would wake up on Christmas morning and the gifts would still be in their Amazon boxes, unwrapped. Someone needs to worry about the details.
Martha wasn’t doing something bad or wrong. But the good thing she was doing wasn’t the best thing at that moment.
The most difficult choices aren’t between good and bad but between good and best.
Many things that distract us from living the life we want and need aren’t bad, but maybe they aren’t the best. Identifying and dealing with things that may not be inherently bad but are still keeping us from God’s best for us is a part of learning to pack well but travel light.
So how do we do that? How do we deal with the distractions that keep us from the life we want and need? How do we choose the best?8
Diminish the Distractions
It is interesting that in his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul talks about this very concept when he talks about the value of remaining single. He says that if you are able, singleness can provide you with a way of life that brings focus to your life. How many of you know that marriage is work? Now, Paul isn’t saying that marriage is bad. On the contrary, I don’t know how I would have survived without my wife. I do not have the wherewithal to remain single. But Paul’s point is, for some, it is a choice between good and better. He ends his thoughts on singleness by saying this:
1 Cor 7:35 (CSB)—I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.
Here is another example that we can all relate to: There is nothing inherently wrong with owning a cell phone or using social media, but we all know it can be a distraction.
The average person picks up their phone every 12 minutes. Our phones, even though they may not be bad things, have the potential to keep us from better things. Our phone can steal time that could better be invested into a relationship with a real person rather than feeding some algorithm.
The average person spends over 2 hours daily on Social Media, clicking and scrolling. That doesn’t include the time spent looking at news, emails, texts, playing games, and binge-watching Netflix.
Diminish the Distractions
All of that time you spend on your phone adds up to around seven years of your life—seven. years! What a tragedy that we might come to the end of our lives and realize we spent seven of those precious, God-given years staring at a screen.
Seven years equals 2,556 days or 61,362 hours.
What do you get for the investment of those 61,362 hours? You get isolated from real people, and you begin to feel that you have been left out and are unimportant. You get an image of yourself that leaves you feeling like you will never measure up because what you see on social media is not real life.
In Prov 5, Solomon talks to men about staying away from the temptation of an immoral woman.
Prov 5:8 (CSB)—Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.
Solomon says, steer clear of her. Don’t invite her out for a drink. Don’t invite her over for game night. Don’t get close. As far as it is up to you, eliminate the option.
If you want to diminish distractions, you must follow the same principle.
Leave your phone in the other room at night, cancel Netflix, turn off your notifications, unplug the Xbox, and delete distracting apps; if you go out with friends or on a date night with your spouse, try leaving your phone behind. I know, some of your heads’ just exploded.
Diminish the distractions.
Focus on the important.
If you want to live the life you want and the life God wants for you, do more of what matters!
I’ve talked about my very good friend Jim before. He passed away almost 30 years ago, but he was a very important part of my and Stacey’s life. He and I spent a lot of time just hanging out, having dinner, we spent many days in the mountains, exploring, backpacking. He’s the one who taught me how to use a map and compass. He was a great friend.
Jim headed up the construction and building program at Chemekata Community College in Salem. He was an excellent builder. He could build anything from a chair to a house. But it was interesting, if you went to his home you would not have known he was a master builder. It was a very simple home with a simple yard. There were always things that needed to be fixed or updated or painted.
One day I asked him how a guy who was a master builder had a home, well, like his. A home that by many people’s standards, needs some TLC. I will never forget his answer. He said there will always be projects and upkeep. There will always be things to improve, but I’d rather spend my time doing things that matter. Things like hanging out with you in the woods.
Jim chose to say no to good things in order to say yes to the best things.
Two years later, he died from cancer. I did not ask him this, but I would bet you a million dollars he would not have traded the time invested in family and friends and his relationship with Jesus, for a nicer yard.
Say no to the good to say yes to the best.
We often don’t realize that every time we say yes to one thing means we say no to something else. So what are you going to say no to and what will you say yes to? Focus on the important!
Again, here is some wisdom from King Solomon:
Prov 4:25-26 (CSB)—Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established.
Solomon says to stay focused on the important. Don’t get distracted by the unimportant.
It’s like when Jesus calls the Apostle Peter to step out of the boat onto the water in the middle of a violent storm. Peter listens to Jesus, steps out of the boat, and begins walking on the water. That is until he is distracted by the wind and the waves and takes his eyes off Jesus. When he takes his focus off what is most important, he begins to sink into the water.
Distractions are not about what we are being distracted by; they are about what we are being distracted from.
Last week, we talked about choosing experiences over stuff. Instead of accumulating more things, accumulate more experiences. Stuff will just drag you down, but experiences will grow you.
This week I would tell you, focus on relationships over being productive and completing your list of tasks.
You need to understand that this comes from a guy who is the chief of productivity and completing tasks. I know how hard this can be.
Diminish the Distractions
Focus on the Important
And
Listen to God’s Voice
Just a quick survey: how many wives avoid having a conversation with your husband when the T.V. is on?
The other night, I was heading out to feed our horses. Olivia had bought some additional supplements for my horse and was giving me instructions on how to feed them. The problem was the T.V. was on while she was talking to me. I got home from feeding and she asked me how George liked his beet pulp. I said beet pulp. What beet pulp? She said the beet pulp I told you was in the tack room. I honestly never heard a single word about beet pulp.
I was distracted, you see, so I only heard half of what she was trying to tell me.
When we are distracted, we often miss what God may be speaking to us.
As Jesus is nearing the time of His crucifixion, He is instructing the disciples on what will happen when He leaves them.
Jn 14:26 (CSB)—But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
Jn 16:13 (CSB)—When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come.
In Eph 1, Paul tells us that the moment you, in faith, believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that God sent Him as a sacrifice for our sin. When you believe that three days after being crucified, Jesus rose from the dead defeating sin and death, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, God’s presence, resides in you.
The Spirit’s job is to teach you, to lead you, to empower you, to give you gifts to grow you and help grow the body of Christ. God’s Word is truth, but it is the Holy Spirit that leads us to that truth. If your life is full of distractions, how will you hear God’s voice? How will you recognize the Holy Spirit doing what the Holy Spirit wants to do?
If your life is full of distractions, it’s like my wife trying to get my attention while the T.V. is on. You may miss what God wants to say to you.
If you want to live the life you want and the life God wants for you, then you have to say: I won’t let the noise of this world distract me from the voice of God.
So as we journey with Jesus, let’s pack well but travel light by Diminishing Distractions, Focusing on what’s Important and Listening to God’s Voice.
Your life is too valuable, God’s calling on your life is too great, and God is too good, for you to waste your life because you are distracted.
- What are some distractions you struggle with? If you aren’t sure, ask God to show them to you.
- How will you deal with those distractions; what’s your plan?
- Is there a relationship in your life that distractions have kept you from investing in? How will you change that?
- Listen for God’s voice as He shows you how to eliminate distractions.
Chris Hankel 
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