Distractions

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. ~ Hebrews 10:35-36

A distraction is an interruption; anything that divides our attention or prevents concentration. 

The above scripture says to not throw away my confidence, but to persevere.  That means acknowledging the distraction (I’ve discovered that if I try to just ignore it, it doesn’t go away), evaluating if it needs to be dealt with, and then moving my focus and energy back to the things to which God has called me.  Let me give you an example, which happened just this last week.  The company I work for was sold.  On Friday, before the end of the day, we were told that we were losing some benefits, and that some others would cost us more money.  This was a distraction, but not one that I could ignore.  It needed to be assessed and dealt with.  This weekend, my husband and I sat down and looked at our new options for insurance and then we tallied up the cost.  Then we looked at the cost of the benefits they were taking away from us.  In the end, the total “cost” is over $1,000 per year.  A thousand dollars is a pretty substantial distraction.

But then this morning, I began to evaluate my perception and my perspective of this situation.  If perception is discernment, then my perception is that the financial loss is nothing more than a distraction.  If I take my focus off of this one circumstance and remember all that God blessed us with over the past year, I’ll realize that He blessed us with well over 2 times that amount.  And because this is just a distraction, I need to remember to not throw away my confidence in my true Supplier, who meets all my needs and to continue to persevere so that I will receive all that He has promised me (Philippians 4:19; Hebrews 10:35-36).

And then I began to look at my perspective.  If perspective is value, then by wallowing in self-pity, I’ve placed a much higher value on my feelings than on my faith in God and on the value of my family.  By continuing to stress over this situation I’m telling God that He is not big enough to take care of us and His promises are worthless.  Hebrews 11:1, 3 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see…By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”  It is not my faith in my employer or myself or anything of this world that will supply all our needs.  It is only faith in God and in the promises that He has revealed to us.  And it is only by my standing firm on those promises that I can rest assured that “he who promised is faithful,” (Hebrews 10:23).

So the next time distractions come, evaluate them, deal with them, and then go back about the Father’s business in confidence.