In today’s devotional of My Utmost for His Highestby Oswald Chambers, he uses the phrase “spiritually distracted”. I think that accurately describes how I often feel.
It’s not hard to be distracted spiritually. This world is full of things to take one’s mind off of God. On Saturday, I got cable. We had shut it off in January 2007 and sold our bigger TV, leaving us with a small TV and DVD player for occasional movie watching. It was a way for our family to remove the distraction that television had become. BUT, the World Cup starts this coming weekend, so I actually bought a new TV and got cable hooked up again so I could see the games in June and July.
With TV hooked up again, I was like an alcoholic who, despite being “on the wagon” for 3 1/2 years, took himself to a wild, drunken party and got wild and drunk. In the three nights since cable was installed, I have stayed up until 2 am, 2 am and 1 am watching movies. The kids are no better, becoming Disney Channel/Cartoon Network zombies.
Worse than being tired every day, I have not been putting God first in my life. It’s not just TV but that’s one example of a worldly distraction to my spiritual well being. It seems that I am most susceptible to distractions when I am hungry, tired or lonely. Those are the times when I am most discontent and seeking something for comfort or distraction. I hope that knowing these things will help me with the everyday struggle.
