We started off this series by making the claim that failing to connect with God was a time management problem. That the best definition of time management is placing the right weight on the right things. We are now entering the category of external activities that distract us. We can always speak with great confidence that we should be studying the Word of God. We can speak with great confidence that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ should be the cornerstone of our lives. I can even speak with pretty good confidence that though there are many internal distractions in our lives and that pride, jealousy, and worry are not going to help us get closer to God. But when we start to talk about what we should or should not spend time on. What are the activities that make up the external distractions that keep us from God? It gets a bit shaky.

And it doesn’t.

Somethings are just evil. God is very clear (despite our best efforts to distort this) that there are works of the flesh that are destructive and that God clearly prohibits because of he loves us and hates evil. God says that people who practice these things unrepentantly are not his followers despite their own statements and false teachers assurance to the contrary. In this arena, we will not only not be connecting with God when participating in these activities but directly fighting against his work even if we have a T shirt on that says First Community Church of Mayberry on the front of it.

Some good things can be bad. God also says we have great liberty, but we also have to have great love of others and great caution not to throw out clear wisdom that is derived from God’s own teachings in the Bible. We need to be aware that good things can become bad things when we use them as a replacement for God. These are creations of God that become in reality a god to us.

They can sometimes be similar to what were in the time of Christ called idols. As you most likely already know, these Idols were wooden or metal objects that were given the attributes of God defined by the worshiper. More often than not, they then eventually allow the worshiper to participate in the things God had clearly prohibited because they are evil. They also place ourselves squarely in the center of the universe instead of God. This is never very good for our connection to God because we can’t see past ourselves to God.

Bad media management can easily turn good things into distractions, and if not checked we may wake up one morning and find ourselves far from God. What may have started off one degree off is now seventy degrees off. These inputs don’t fight directly against God but dilute, distract, and limit our time studying the Word of God, praying, loving our neighbor, as well as connecting with our brothers and sisters in the bonds of Christ. We need to be intentional and alert and learn how to use these media inputs. Though if we can’t, Jesus is clear we are better to just get rid of them altogether.     

In order to be connected with God, we need to put off the dead end internal and external distractions and read our bibles, pray, and bless others. The results of these simple and kind steps will be a closer connection with God and understanding of the Holy Spirit’s workings in our life. It will also, according to Jesus, come with some sort of persecution because others will not be that happy with you because when you keep to the basics of faith you can’t be easily manipulated for the work of the enemy of our souls.

Doug

The words of British poet Robert Abrahams say it well, “For some men die by shrapnel, And some go down in flames, But most men perish inch by inch, In play at little games.”  Our goal is to identify the little games and put a stop to them and put the right weight on the right things.