For we walk by faith, not by sight ...

Distraction

Many things distract me from my walk with Christ, not least of which is pain. Pain can be debilitating -as I have talked about before. In that time of debilitation nothing else matters and so you can become distracted from everything that is your life or that which is in your life. Washing dishes becomes irrelevant, sleeping can be difficult, waking up is undesirable, showering almost becomes pointless, work has no relevance.

There is no doubt that Christ is my all in all and that the enemy is the great stealer of time, the killer of joy, the destroyer of hope - that is if you let him. The word of God says the enemy comes to steal, to kill, to destroy. It has to be my effort to ensure that I don’t allow that to happen. However, distraction comes in various forms. Mine at the moment can be pain. It can be busy-ness. It can be weariness or exhaustion. It can be work - my job. It can also be things like having fun or holidays.

It’s been years since I began to encounter pain, but it’s only been a moment since I realised that I was allowing it to distract me from the promises of God, from the word of God, from my relationship with God. Rightly so one might say, it is pain after all. And one could be right.

But then what is the walk of faith if not without using one’s sight? Not looking at, not seeing that distraction. Choosing instead to blindly follow God’s promises can be exhausting in itself but the rewards are life, and that more abundantly. Those rewards may not always be received in this lifetime but there are witnesses as per Hebrews 11 who experienced God’s promise to never leave us, to never forsake us. He is not a man to lie. His word is His bond. What He has promised is His truth.

Despite the distractions, I choose to hold on to that.