Smart phones - Iphones - "U"phones - "Me"phones - I think technology has passed me by, and I know it. I do, however, own a phone of my own. It's not smart, though. It's just a little Cricket, $19.99, WalMart special, but I love it. I can call my husband. I can text my friends and family. I can stay in touch with people I haven't seen in a very long time...and I don't even have to be home to do it! Anywhere I have "service," I can communicate. Pretty awesome, huh?
But sometimes "awesomeness," comes with a warning: Don't text and drive.
We know that don't we, and yet it is incredibly difficult to NOT pick up that little gadget, when you hear that "ding-ding" or whatever you may have your text tone set to. Why is that? Why did the government have to make such a law? I know you know the answer, but in case you are wondering, it's because a phone in your hand while you are driving is considered a distraction.
I don't normally do statistics, but this was just too striking. According to drivingsafety.com, DWI has come to mean Driving While Intexticated! The website states that in 2011, at least 23% of auto collisions involved cell phones - that's 1.3. million crashes. It also states that 77% of young adults are very somewhat confident that they can safely text while driving and that 55% of young adult drivers claim it's easy to text while they drive.
Scary, isn't it...and that was in 2011 when cell phones were not as prevalent as they are today.
Does that mean that we should make a law to ban all cell phones? No, phones are not bad things. On the contrary, they are very helpful things - unless they become a distraction.
The word "distraction" can be defined in the dictionary as something that diverts attention: something that interferes with concentration or takes attention away from something else. I would say that's a pretty good definition of what happens when people text and drive. They become distracted. Their eyes are no longer focused on the road, but on the cute little, colored-cased thing they hold in their hand.
Which brings me to my verse for the day. Hebrews 12:1,2 says that as Believers in Christ, we should "lay aside very weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith."
For most of us, we "get" that we should lay aside every sin that besets us or entangles us. We understand we shouldn't go against God's Word, and we realize that we when we do, our walk becomes sludgy and difficult. However, there's another part of that verse that has been on my mind a lot lately. We are to lay aside every WEIGHT. Makes me tired just typing it.
The weight spoken of here is not necessarily a sin. God covers that in the rest of the verse. But the weight He is speaking of, is anything that takes our eyes off Jesus....anything that distracts our eyes from the "Finisher of our faith" and diverts our attention to ourselves or to other areas of life.
Let me use your imagination for a moment. Picture yourself in a race, okay? You have trained so very hard and the day has finally come. You stand on the track, shake out your muscles, making sure every part of your body is loose. You put your feet into the blocks and "bang!" You're off. All of the sudden, you realize your left leg is a little heavier than you remember. You look down, only to find in your panic that you forgot to take off your left ankle weight. It's okay, though. You can still run pretty fast. But that leg is getting heavier - distraction.
A few yards go by, and someone joins you in the race. Hey...that's your friend. That's your buddy. How great! They've come along side you to cheer you on...or so you think. But all of the sudden, they remove an ankle weight from their back pocket and strap it on to your right ankle, telling you that you forgot your other ankle weight back at the starting line. Now, your legs are heavier than ever, and the weight is getting much more noticeable - distraction.
Then, out of nowhere, you see a doughnut stand off to the right of the track. You are soooo hungry. You've had nothing but brussel sprouts and egg milkshakes for weeks, getting ready for this race. One bite won't hurt. So, you tell the vendor to toss you one, and as you race around the track, you scarf the thing down, only to realize that some jelly from the donut fell onto your shirt and is about to - heaven forbid - descend onto your favorite running shoes. Oh no! You love those shoes - distraction.
Okay, I could go on forever, and as you can tell, I'm getting a little distracted as well! I think you get my point. Distractions make the race harder to run. They divert your attention from the real prize and make other things seem more important.
So, what could these distractions - these weights - look like in the life of a Believer? I don't know what your distractions are, but a few things come to mind for me. Personally, guilt from my past is a weight in my life sometimes. Caring too much about what other people think about me is a definite distraction that I have to lay aside. Feeling the need to be perfect, instead of being forgiven causes stress in my life more than I want to admit. More recently, my distractions - my weights - have been merely letting my mind wander, instead of taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ.
Whatever the weight, whatever the distraction is in our lives, God calls - not to run with it...not to lumber along. laboring under its heaviness - but to lay it aside. We're to get rid of it. We're to stop focusing on what's in front of our feet or on our feet or on our shoes(!) and look out ahead of us to the end of the race. We must refocus our attention onto Jesus...the Author and Finisher of our race.
Right now, you might be saying, "So help me out. How do I lay aside these things? I don't even know what they are?" Well, do this. When your distractions manifest themselves - when you find yourself feeling heavy and weighted down in your walk with Him - first of all, confess any known sin. Get rid of the weight that is obvious in your life. Then, ask God to show you what the other weights are - what the other distractions in your life might be. You might be surprised to find that these things aren't necessarily bad things, just distracting things. Beg Him to reveal those to you and then, with His help, lay them aside. Take your eyes off of your distractions and divert your attention back to where it belongs - to Jesus.
Here's a simple one: Put down your phone and pick up your Bible, even if your Bible is ON your phone! The temptation to be distracted will still be there if "Aunt Sally" texts you!
Oh, what a joy to run a race that was designed especially for us to run, completely free of anything that would weigh us down. I know you want that. I want it, too. The good news is that we can have that. We can run fast and furious toward the prize - unhindered, unbound, un-weighted, completely free.
And by the way, if you find that your cell phone has indeed become a distraction in your race toward Christ, take off that cute cover and tape a 10 lb. weight to that "thang!" That should do the trick! : )
God, help me to see my distractions today. Show me what weight I need to rid myself of, in order to keep from being distracted. I want to please you. I want to run my race with patience. I want to run fast and free. Lift my eyes and my head, Jesus, to focus on You. Thank You, Lord for Your faithfulness to show me and help me with these things. I love You, Lord. I really do.
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