Today’s Devotional: Are you distracted?
This morning I’ve been distracted by all sorts of things: miscellaneous emails, my cell phone chirruping, the dirty dishes in my sink, and the unpaid internet bill sitting on my desk. And those are just things I remember being distracted by!
There are days when I’m convinced that the world is conspiring to keep me from getting anything of substance done. Much of the time, the things that distract us are things that need to get done… but they aren’t necessarily what we should be focusing on right that second.
Winn Collier writes at Our Daily Journey with God about Martha’s focus on the wrong thing in Luke 10. Martha is busily preparing a meal for Jesus and her other guests while Mary sits listening at Jesus’ feet. Martha’s focus was in the wrong place:
Martha had invited Jesus and His followers into their home, and she began to prepare a meal for them. Preparing dinner for her guests was a good thing. The Hebrew tradition at that time had much to say about welcoming strangers into your home and offering them generous hospitality. However, even good things—at the inappropriate time—become hindrances. In this case, Martha’s myopic devotion to her work caused her to miss another opportunity . . . a better opportunity. “Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing,” Luke tells us (v.40).
Her distraction kept her from “the one thing worth being concerned about,” which was listening to Jesus (v.42). For all of us, the one central thing—whether we’re working or resting, filled with joy or burdened by sadness—is to hear what Jesus is saying to us. As John Ortberg says, “That one thing is the decision to live so continually in Jesus’ presence as to be always covered with the dust of the Rabbi.”
Read the entire devotional at Our Daily Journey.
What are some things that distract you from Jesus? How do you keep your focus where it should be?
