Distracted

We all know that word, right? It's when you are unable to concentrate because something else is drawing your attention. It is a two-part word from Latin where "dis" refers to "away" (like "disconnect" or "disable") and "tract" refers to drawing (as in drawing water, not drawing pictures). ("Intractable" refers to something that cannot be "drawn" so it is unable to be controlled.) (I know, I know, "Get on with it, Stan; no one cares about this.") We know, for instance, about "distracted driving" where your car radio or your phone's texts or calls or the kids screaming in the back seat produce a distraction -- you can't concentrate on your driving because something has drawn away your attention. Not good.

I would submit that "distracted" is the primary mode of operation in modern society, even the primary goal, and certainly a primary aim of Satan. And I think it comes so naturally to us. Like the dog intent on ... "Squirrel!" ... we so easily get our attention drawn away from what we're doing or need to be doing or ought to be doing. It happens on the road. It happens at home -- in marriage and family. It happens when you read your Bible or pray. It happens to the Christian guy surfing the Internet to locate a new domwoggle to replace the one that broke all while intentionally avoiding any of "those sites" because those would be sinful ... and those darn scantily clad models in the ads on the side of the page show up and distract him from his domwoggle search and his intent to avoid sexual temptation. It happens in church. You're singing worship songs and wondering how you sound to the person in front of you or listening to the sermon and the mistake on the overhead display draws your attention or ... you know. It is a fabled operation of Satan on Sunday mornings as you prepare to head to church, isn't it? Something always comes up to upset the apple cart and distract you from worship.

Distracted. That's us. Most of the time most of us go to the Internet it is to find distraction. We play video games or watch TV or whatever else entertains to provide distraction. In fact, the word "amusement" comes from the Greek for "muse" -- to think -- with a negative prefix, rendering it "not to think." Amusement is literally "not to think," and that's what distraction does. We don't want to think. We don't want to think about our issues, our problems, our responsibilities, the demands on our time and energy and resources, what's right and what's wrong, etc. At the top of the list, if the single most important thing we need to do is to enjoy God and glorify Him, we really, really want to be distracted from that. So we distract ourselves with amusement or entertainment or responsibilities or "the urgent" over "the important" and all sorts of other things so we don't deal with what we need to deal with.

Distracted driving is a real problem these days. Even distracted walking. Our cars and our smartphones and our lifestyles and our attention spans seem to conspire against us to pay attention to our driving, and we're all aware of the disasters this can cause. Distracted living is a real problem these days. We just don't see the downside of that problem as clearly. The author of Hebrews said we should "run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:1-2). Looking to Jesus without distraction. Without the distraction that Satan and the world would love to throw in our path. And, if we're honest, we're ready to accept. But shouldn't be.