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Day 15: Pastor Jesse

distractions & the road to hell

 

Matthew 4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’.”

We have things and people vying for our attention all the time. Social media, advertising, children, spouses, jobs, school, tasks that never seem to end. As soon as we open our eyes in the morning, chances are someone or something is grabbing our attention. None of these things are bad in and of themselves (in fact, some are huge blessings) but when they get so distracting that they are the main thing, that we are no longer focused on what is ultimately important, that’s when we can go wrong. We quickly make idols.

Do I spend so many hours a day thinking about my kids and how to provide them with everything I can that I forget to look to The Provider of all? Being responsible and providing for my family is a good thing but it shouldn’t be the most important thing.

Do I spend so many hours trying to make my house look perfect for friends and family to arrive for the holiday meal that I forget why we are celebrating in the first place?

This is a slippery slope that is often hard to recognize when you’re on it. In the book The Screwtape Letters, the demon Screwtape is instructing his nephew about the best way to proceed. “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,….”

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

So how do we resist these temptations that are hard to recognize? We are given the answer in Philippians 4:8: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

We have to choose each and every day what we will focus on. How will you start the day? With a quick look at social media? Or with time in the Word? When a tempting thought enters your mind, will you focus on it, give into it, entertain it? Or will you take your thoughts captive, and stand on the promise that you have been made into a new creation? This life is not about perfection, but rather process. 

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.”

So this is how we resist temptation: We choose. Day by day, moment by moment to focus on Him who has provided all that we will ever need. And when we fall, we get back up and lean on Him again.

Ephesians 3:14-19 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

 

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for the free gift of grace which has been given to me. Please help me to live it out each day by keeping you in the forefront of my mind and heart.