Day 2868 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Matthew 6:33 NIV

Have you ever been so distracted that you didn’t even realize you were distracted? I’d venture to guess that each of us have, but we obviously didn’t think to see it that way. The truth is that each of us often find ourselves so worried about a hundred different things all at once that we likely don’t even realize that we can’t actually worry about a hundred different things at once. Instead, what we’re really doing is bouncing violently between concerns, only spending a moment or two looking at or thinking about each before our mind races off to the next.

As I’ve kind of shared a little over the past few days, this past month or so has been one of countless distractions in my life that have wonderfully succeeded at turning my focus away from where I know it should have been, where it always needs to remain. I think that truth is far more commonplace around this holiday season. Again, that’s something we’ve discussed at fairly good length in recent days. But the main point I’ve tried to hammer home in my last couple of posts is that distractions are far more common, far more problematic, and sometimes even far more dangerous than we often care to consider.

Among all our weaknesses and struggles and often foolish stumbling blocks which we tend to place for ourselves, one that is arguably the most common is our viewing this life in this place as our only existence. We get stuck seeing this time we have today as all that matters. And when this right here and right now is allowed to become our focus, what we’ll typically find is hearts set on making this life in this world as grand as we can make it.

And in that pursuit, we will begin chasing after the things that everyone else is chasing thinking that we must catch them in order to ensure our lives have value, meaning, purpose. We’ll start worrying about keeping up with all the headlines and breaking news and latest outrages as we can’t bear the thought of being unaware of something unfolding in this place that may affect our lives within it. We’ll start looking to those around us for advice and suggestion as to how we can better carve our comfort within this temporal place that we simply forget is temporary.

Eventually, we’ll shift our focus to the things discussed in this passage of Matthew. We’ll give large pieces of our time to thinking about what to eat, what to drink, what to wear. Our possessions will slowly begin to possess us, and that’s the tipping point where the things around us become idols that start taking ownership of our lives through our foolish willingness to give them the time and attention that can, and in all matters should, be given only to our faith and the One said faith must be rooted in.

This kind of thing happens far more often than we ever realize. Mostly because we’ve been horribly desensitized to the danger of worldly concerns by this world we’re in that tells us it’s not only not harmful but that it’s actually helpful. And often enough, our own minds do more than their fair share of helping us remain convinced of the necessity of things like plans and dreams and goals, and yes, even the possessions and monetary means to make them possible.

If we could only step back out of this confusion that we’ve learned to think is normal, we could see just how much we’re being led around by lies and deceit and desires that in no way benefit us or our faith.

But instead, we just steady onward in this status quo that remains largely insignificant in our minds as it tends to bring us a passing modicum of success and comfort and maybe even a little gain. And yet, no matter what we gain or how much success we may find in living meaningful lives as defined by those around us, the first thing that simply must be relegated to the back burner in this search for lives of worldly comfort is our faith that ever-reminds us of a life still to come, or at least an end to this one that we’re trying so hard to stay busy trying to create.

You see, that’s the danger I’ve been trying, and in all honesty struggling to highlight in my recent posts. Our faith so quickly becomes expendable when our eyes shift to the world around us and the material concerns that this place is all but completely consumed with trying to chase. And it has to be expendable because our faith tells us that this is not our home. It reminds us that we will not remain here forever. It even speaks to the damage done by sins committed in our prior efforts to be a bit too much like this world that we’ve been placed in for a time.

And so, as the concerns of this life grow in importance, our faith must shrink away and be allowed to shrivel up so that it doesn’t cause us to stumble in this race to a worldly finish line marked by white picket fences and 2.5 kids and a mini-van filled with dirty little league gear.

Simply put, we need neither faith, the truth it’s built upon, the Scripture that teaches us that truth, nor the constant reminders of sins committed by our lack of self-control to get in our way of beating the rest of the world to grab the things that everyone here agrees are important, valuable, meaningful, and therefore able to give our lives purpose and an image of success.

So the more this world is allowed to become our home, and the more our lives here are allowed to be seen as our only chance to find enjoyment or meaning, the more our faith will be allowed to ebb away so that it doesn’t in any way hinder our enjoyment of this time we have or our effort to find meaning in this place and in the experiences we can have here. As I said in a recent discussion, faith and worldly living are oil and water that simply do not mix.

And so, when our priorities are allowed, or rather forced, to be adjusted by our decision to make this life our best life, faith must get out of the way because what our faith speaks to is everything that this world is against, and everything our faith warns against is everything that we learn to prioritize here.

Yet, sadly, many likely don’t even notice anything wrong. Humanity has become so engrained in the ways of life deemed normal down here that we find no trouble finding comfort in any rut that allows us to carve out some semblance of anything we can call normal. So when we spend our time waiting in line for concert tickets rather than studying Scripture, when we buy the latest Nikes rather than buying a homeless person some food, and when we use our words to yell at someone we disagree with rather than using that time and that air to speak life through the sharing of the Gospel, we can’t see how much time and life and opportunity we’ve missed to be a part of something bigger than this world.

We’ve built a society in which those who have the most are worth the most. Those who reach the most people have the most impact. Those who make others comfortable are the ones who love the most. Those who have things that other people want are clearly important and successful and living the lives we should be aiming to live because we’ve fallen for this lie that tells us that life is nothing but a means to use toward the fulfillment of selfish gain and social glory.

In truth, what we wear doesn’t matter as much as our willingness to wear our faith boldly for the world to see. What we eat doesn’t matter as much as ensuring that we’re living on the bread of God and telling those around us who themselves are starving for truth and hope where we’ve found our bread. What we drink doesn’t matter as much as seeking the living water that flows from the throne of our Father. What we have doesn’t mean a thing if we have Christ in our hearts and His promise up ahead.

But those facts are almost entirely lost in this shuffle to make our lives mean something to the world and those judging us based on our success. Life is more than money. It’s bigger than houses or cars or jobs or trophies. What we have an opportunity to do is worth more winning every race on earthly soil, because what we can be a part of through serving Christ carries a significance that doesn’t expire when our time here does.

We can live our lives in such a way that renders them meaningless when we’re not here to tell everyone how much they mean. So many things that we tend to worry about simply aren’t worth the time or effort we give worrying about them. Titles and followers and fans and fun, it all only matters in this place. And friends, while we may not care to spend much time thinking about it, this place will one day be long gone. And so if we live our entire stay here assuming we’ll stay here, then we will have nothing waiting for us when we inevitably move on.

Instead of building kingdoms through our perfection and power and prizes and possessions, we should truly seek first His kingdom. Rather than living to prove to the world how good we are, we should seek His righteousness and tell others about that example we’ve been given to follow. Instead of sounding our own trumpets and patting ourselves on the back, we should aim to herald the coming of the Son of God who will not be coming to congratulate us on a job well done if all we have to show for our time here is a bunch of material possessions.

Friends, He knows what we need, and if we could humble ourselves just enough to look back on our lives, we’ll see that we’ve never lacked anything. Was life always perfect? No. Did we go through hard times? Yeah. Did we always get everything we wanted? Nope. But through all the ups and downs we’ve been through, His faithfulness has been a constant, albeit largely unseen complain along this journey. He knows we need clothes. He knows we need food. He knows we’ll die without water.

Our worrying about any of the above, anything in this world is time wasted. All we’re doing by worrying about the necessities of life is allowing our doubt to speak lies telling us that maybe He won’t have us covered.

In all reality, even should the rest of our lives here be spent cold, hungry, naked, and tired, if we know Christ as our Lord and Savior and if we give ourselves to desperately seeking and serving His will, the misery we face and the lack we feel and the judgment we endure will evaporate the instant we step into His eternal glory. And that is why we should spend our every moment in this place as if our next moment will finally be experiencing His promise.

Please don’t let this world keep you distracted, worried, afraid, or uncertain. One day we’ll finally see just how meaningless all this excess truly is. And our hope should be that when that day comes, we’re not left holding a bunch of worthless idols trying to tell God why they’re so important. But that we’ll be left holding onto the hem of His robe and the faith that told us to let go of everything else so that we could reach out for Him.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold