Distracted

You know how magic tricks work, right? The magician distracts you. He gets you to look away from what he's doing while he manipulates your perceptions. It works.

Satan, of course, is a genius at this. Well, he would be, wouldn't he? You know, "the father of lies." So he has a conversation with Eve in which he starts talking about "Did God actually say ...?" (Gen 3:1) and then moves on to, "You won't surely die" (Gen 3:4) followed by "You will be like God!" (Gen 3:5) And Eve is left looking at ... what? Where is Eve's attention after this conversation with the father of lies? Is she looking at what God said? Is she looking at the truth? Not at all! "The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise." (Gen 3:6) Distraction.

We live in a full-court press of distraction these days. We have "marriage" issues and "LGBTQ" issues and "church and state" issues. We have COVID hysteria and a BLM movement rolling along that undercuts police and government and family. We're under extreme political pressures and extreme economic pressures and extreme ideological pressures. If there is any such thing as distraction, we're living in a world of it right now. Not just everyday kind of distractions, either. I mean, really, really big distractions.

There was a famous biblical character that encountered colossal distraction that almost killed him. You know the story. Jesus had just fed the 5,000+ (Matt 14:14-21). He went to pray while His disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee (Matt 14:22-23). A storm came up, so Jesus took a stroll out to the struggling fishermen (Matt 14:24-25). When they saw Him, they were scared, but He told them not to be afraid (Matt 14:26-27). Peter was remarkable. "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." (Matt 14:28) And Jesus did. So Peter walked on the water (Matt 14:29). Astounding! Amazing! I mean, what could be a more vivid illustration of following Christ? Why is it, then, that Peter is more remembered as rash than remarkable? "When he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" (Matt 14:30) Distraction. Really big distraction. Super-storm-level distraction.

Jesus saved him, of course (Matt 14:31-32), but this is a good example of what you and I are enduring these days. We're urged to "take heart" and we're commanded to follow Jesus and we really want to, but there's this whole "perfect storm" thing going on. A society increasingly opposed to biblical faith, a pandemic, a nationwide protest on racial issues, an ugly political year, and a massive economical downturn and on and on and on. Our own super-storm. And we look away. We look at the storm. We don't look to Jesus. "O you of little faith," Jesus asked Peter, "why did you doubt?" He asks us the same.

Our world is buying the distraction. They're largely fine with the regulation and the destruction and the politics and the whole thing. They make their decisions on the storm rather than on anything reliable. So violent is this storm that the truth is hard to find at all. But that doesn't have to be our plight, does it? We have a Savior who walks on water and calms storms with a word. Shouldn't we be looking to Him instead?