Defending Your Family - Lesson 11 - Distraction

DISTRACTION

There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playng in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." Aaron didn't say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come up here to read."

Nehemiah, Learning to Lead, J.M. Boice, Revell, 1990, p. 38.


Distraction and Misplaced Priorities

Matthew 13:22, “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”

Unfruitful and destitute of good works.
He does not live a life of piety towards God,
and of beneficence towards men.

This represents the worldly-minded man,
who is so occupied with the things of time,
that he has no heart to attend to the salvation of his soul,
or the souls of his loved ones.

Have you ever been distracted by the world?





This is an area of our life that we must deal with alone.
No one can schedule your life
and no one can define what is
and what isn’t important to you.

Family, job, church and personal needs
are in there someplace,
but where you place them on the priority scale
is a matter you must deal with personally.

The enemy knows that we are busy people,
that we live in a busy society,
and that we have responsibilities that cannot be avoided…

The enemy will use all of that
to destroy the joy of our salvation.
As far as the devil is concerned,
our spiritual relationship with God
will just have to wait until Sunday.


Sure, the devil is OK with a quick prayer in the morning
and a chapter or two in the Bible
just before bedtime…

But the rest of our life must be involved with stuff
to help you forget how wonderful it is
to have a loving Heavenly Father walking with us
every step of the way.
The devil doesn’t like a full-time Christian.

Our Lord’s mandate is simple…

Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Included with that mandate
is a promise from God that everything else in life
will then fall in place.

God isn’t competing with your life…
He is cooperating with it.

Can you give us any advice as how we are to turn to that verse sooner?





We can expect trouble when you allow
the devil to create a lifestyle
that places our daily relationship with God
as a secondary priority.

Life’s frustrations and worldly ambitions are weapons
that satan finds very useful in keeping the joy of God’s salvation
from shining through.


Ok… That’s the bad news…
What’s the solution?

Our Heavenly Father knows what’s going on in our life.
He knows all about the devil’s tactics
in trying to keep us from the full joy of our salvation.

Here’s God’s simple and effective advice
when the devil comes sneaking up on you…


James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Notice the procedure…
first submit to God…
then resist the devil.

If we do that backwards
the devil won’t be impressed.

Can you give testimony of the devil fleeing from you?





So, what does it mean to submit to God?
Does it mean to submit to His authority…
to His power?

Of course…but it also means to submit to Him
as your Heavenly Father…
to His love, to His embrace, to His protection.

It’s one thing to know that there is a God
who is bigger and more powerful than the devil…
but it’s even better to know
that we are His special child and that He will never
allow anything to defeat us.

When the devil comes around to confuse us,
or intimidate us,
or to distract us from the joy of God’s loving fellowship…
all we need to do is to open up our spirit
and allow the love of God to flow in.


The devil can’t handle it when the Father and child are bonding together.


Once we do that…
all that’s left is to kick the devil right where it hurts…
by telling him to get lost!
Sure, he’ll be back…
and then you can kick him again
and again and again.


II Timothy 2:22-26, “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”


The enemy has developed hundreds of ways to say,
"Hey, look over there!"
All he has to do is distract us,
and he has us doing something other than
serving or glorifying God.

One of the goals we should have
as we strive to live for the Lord is to keep "looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

How do you stay focused on Jesus on those tough days?
What about on those good days when we are feeling independent?





We look away from Jesus
when we put our attention on others to criticize them.
We look away when we let everyday concerns make us worry.
We look away when we neglect His Word.

Satan is the great distracter.
Let's ignore his urgings
and keep our eyes on Jesus.

When we do,
we will find it easier to live
in a way that glorifies God.
Then we won't be doing Satan's will…

2 Timothy 2:26, “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

How can we strengthen and encourage each to recover themselves?





There's victory for you over sin and its shame:Look only to Jesus, there's power in His name.The devil can't harm you nor cause you to sin;By trusting the Savior the victory you'll win. --Anon.

Satan's ploys are no match for the Savior's power.


DIVERSION

A former police officer tells of the tactics of roving bands of thieves: "They enter the store as a group. One or two separate themselves from the group, and the others start a loud commotion in another section of the store. This grabs the attention of the clerks and customers. As all eyes are turned to the disturbance, the accomplices fill their pockets with merchandise and cash, leaving before anyone suspects. "Hours--sometimes even days--later, the victimized merchant realizes things are missing and calls the police. Too late." How often this effective strategy is used by the Evil One! We are seduced into paying attention to the distractions, while evil agents ransack our lives. In times when well-publicized sins have captured our attention, we do well to check our own moral pockets to see if we have anything left.

Tom McHaffie.


next chapter

back to index