We are so ministerial-minded, and we want so to come into our ministries, and a lot of souls are made shipwreck by a premature coming into ministry when there had been no attention to the foundation of relationship with God and men.
~Art Katz
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
~ Jesus, King of The Universe, in Matthew 6
Oh beloved, it is true. We are hammered by the distractions that present themselves to us. Maybe, for us addicts, this is one of the reasons we used. We had so much stuff banging around in our skulls that we felt like we could barely think.
Or actually, maybe it was just because we were thinking too much. Intelligence and the ability to analyze information is not a true sign of wisdom…
But somehow, He gets us free. And for the addict, there is a moment early in our breaking out of the prison cell, where the cacophony in our heads goes quiet. It is like being in a room where something has been making noise in the background (like an air conditioner or some machine). While the noise is going on, we hardly notice it. But, once it is turned off, we are amazed at the quiet we experience.
And this quiet can continue, if we allow it. He is the Source of the peace. And there is no end to Him.
But, the letting it continue. This is the problem. In come the waves of the world. In come the fiery darts or the evil one. And, around go the thoughts in our chemically-damaged brains.
Jobs
Grades
Family
Finances
Bitterness
Politics
Sex
Media
Relationships
Health
Religion
And on, and on, and on… All of this stuff competes to get into the flow of our relationship with Him. It is like the little kid, or the little kitten who competes to get between a writer and his keyboard.
And while it is dangerous for any of us to live distracted, it is gravely treacherous for those of us who have only gained our freedom after becoming adults. We have learned that we really are the weaker brothers. We don’t have any tolerance for the turbulence the world gives. We are those who will be swept away without us keeping our eyes directly on Jesus.
Can we see it? This is what the Kingdom is. This is what we all need to be seeking: Jesus. Jesus, a Person, is the Kingdom. Because, oh, it is not that other things are unnecessary. It is that we cannot obtain them. And if we do – we cannot take them into our hands without putting ourselves into grave danger. We, like little children, need to look to our Father, and like our Biggest Brother, see that He alone is the Source of anything of value.
However, the beautiful thing is, that in single-minded devotion to Jesus and His Way of doing things, we find that everything we do receive is no longer a distraction. They do, in fact, point us back to the Giver. We become more amazed at His goodness, more astonished by His sense of timing, and fall more deeply in Love with Him.
So beloved, are you finding yourselves getting distracted by all the distractions in the world? It can happen. But it doesn’t need to. Just look away from all the stuff trying to get in the way. Just look at Him. Everything else fades when we look into His eyes. For it is in those eyes that we see the everything we need.
Tonight is your night. Time to look right at Him. He will take care of everything else.
Recognize the dark night for what it is. Be grateful that God is lovingly drawing you away from every distraction so that you can see him. Rather than chafing and fighting, become still and wait.
~Richard J. Foster (1942- )
