ROOTED RENEGADE

Our lives are full of distractions. The biggest being our phones which are the constant companions of our lives. People can be in the same room and instead of talking to each other they send a text from across the room. Social media is the way family and friends communicate. The main stream media keep the public confused and varying reports on politics based on personal bias and only half of the news is reported. Families go on vacation and the main attraction at dinner is posting the food photos on Instagram and talking to people back home on SnapChat.

Distractions. I could keep going but you probably get the point by now. The goal of the enemy was written in the Bible well before the digital age.

In the first part of the verse John 10:10 it clearly states “the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy”! Clear cut and dry message there! He has goals just like the rest of us. It is no big secret and it has not been one since the fall of mankind. God spoke back in the book of Genesis in verse 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” While God is speaking of Jesus defeating Satan in this passage and Satan causing Jesus temptation and suffering in the wilderness, He is also referring to Satan’s ability to continue to cause affliction to Christ followers hence the “bruising of the heel”.

It took me a long time to understand that my distractions are the enemy’s way of bruising my heel time and time again. He creeps in like a thief in the night and a little at a time knocks me off balance. Think about it for a moment. What in your life may seem completely harmless? It isn’t a sin to be on Facebook or Instagram, true, I don’t disagree at all. But do you find yourself spending more time on it scrolling through post after post after post, getting lost in the feeds of others, only to find you have accomplished nothing you set out to do for that morning? Have you missed your opportunity to get quiet with God before your feet hit the floor? Is your phone the first thing you reach for so you can check to see how many likes you got on a post you made before you went to bed the night before?

How about this…does your family dinner consist of cell phones at the table instead of meaningful conversations? Do you walk into stores holding your phones and texting thereby missing the opportunity to smile at patrons who may pass you by? Don’t get me wrong, I know many of us use digital coupons now and need our phones for them, so I totally get that. But when is the last time you called someone instead of text them? When is the last time you put your phone down when you got home from work and did not pick it up until the next morning so you could spend quality time with family?

Distractions are becoming more and more prevalent in our society and while we don’t notice them as much because they have become so normal for us, they are starting to be sinful. Anything that draws us away from God, away from His presence, away from focusing on Him first and foremost becomes sinful in nature. In fact, it is like having false idols above our Heavenly Father, whether we mean to or not. Our society glamorizes so much these days that we fall into the enemy’s traps without even seeing it.

So we must begin to starve our distractions so we can draw near to God!

James 4:8 puts it best…

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

We have to choose to not be like the world when we follow Christ. Starving our distractions and feeding our focus…focus which is Christ…means we lay down that which is drawing us away from Him. We must choose each day to make an attempt in our best efforts to put God above all else. Not let the enemy distract us from the Will of God for our lives and if we don’t know what His will is we go to Him in prayer and ask. He will show is along the way.

Being a Christ follower is not simple, it is not always easy, it has many trials and tribulations, but that is because our reward is Heavenly. We strive for a Heavenly goal not an earthly one. Starving distractions takes the Father’s strength as we cannot do it on our own. He will provide all of our needs accordingly, even if we don’t fully understand it at the time .

I can’t say the journey for me has been easy, but I can say that every step of the way, my Father shows me more and more where I need to cleanse my life, what distractions I need to eliminate, and how I need to draw closer to him. May He bring you peace on the journey!

Day 17 “Off The Grid”!

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