Life is riddled with distractions. Not all distractions are negative, but all should be understood and managed. I once distracted a man who threatened me with a gun. Perceiving the situation, I determined a way to distract him so managed the moment for my safety. Animal trainers are adept in distracting animals so to get them to do what the animals might not do in native environment. Teachers have sometimes distracted students from negative to affirmative behaviors through teaching skills, moving dilatory minds from detours to main highways of learning and reality for developmental growth.
As distraction may occur for good consequences, they are commonly less beneficial. Distractions tend to reduce human effectiveness. Society is adept at using distractions, a skill that requires little conscious instruction for gaining effectiveness. The undisciplined mind tends to fall to distraction. We are distracted from important matters like developing relationships, from rigors of education, from necessaries of our professions, from choices that result in good health, safety, family solidarity and constructive habits. Driver distractions, we are told, cause more highway accidents than all other causes combined. The same appears to be true for airplane accidents. These last are sometimes termed pilot errors. The sad story can be extended at length for common human tragedies. Distraction becomes a killer, a robber, a liar, a bad influence. It likely is a major enemy of prayer, both for entering and completing prayer. Even prayer’s history tells us about distraction. A. W. Tozer believed human distraction a major enemy of prayer.
The Bible recognizes the extent of debilitating uses of distraction. Readers are even warned not to permit their parents to be distractions from the main purpose of life, to gain God’s will. To use parents in illustration was more forceful than we may imagine for ancient family-oriented people. The Apostle Paul, on three occasions, used so great an issue as slavery to warn against distraction. He reminded slaves that their service was to be to God, not to man. He made clear to Philemon that Onesimus, a slave, was actually a brother and equal to other Christian brothers – whether Philemon perceived it or not. Onesimus was a slave in the human scheme of things, but he was a son of God in the divine family. Philemon was advised to receive the man as a Christian brother, although legal distraction might forestall the reality. It was also true that Onesimus should not permit his slavery to be a distraction from serving God, while meeting legal limitations.
The small distractions of our lives are, in total, more influential than the large ones. We are distracted from family duties, chores that ought to be carried through, service that ought to be given, and devotion that ought to be scheduled. In prayer we encounter numerous distractions to make us think about everything except matters of devotional concern. The ideas that distract may be high minded, or they be scurvy thoughts that come from nowhere. But they all qualify as distractions. Unless we are somewhat stern with ourselves we may lose in prayer efficacy, by tenacious distractions. The persons who most value prayer will learn that one of the secrets to effective spiritual life is to learn to deal with distractions – from any matters that interrupt fellowship with God. We often sense a whiff of insult in the address of distracted persons. How does a person feel greeted by an acquaintance looking over the shoulder to see who else is at the meeting? Concentration on choices helps us win. To win we must learn self-control. We use helps, design schedules, and force ourselves to focus on the elevations. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020