Starve your distractions, feed your focus.

In ancient days when the king of Siam had an enemy he wanted to destroy, he’d send his enemy a very unique gift, a white elephant, a live, albino elephant. White elephants were considered sacred. So, the recipient of that elephant had no choice but to carefully care for the gift. But the elephant would take an inordinate amount of the enemy’s time, resources, energy, and finances. Over time the enemy would destroy himself because of the extremely burdensome process of caring for the “gift.”

The Bible calls the devil a snake, an angel of light and the father of lies. Our Enemy knows how to catch his victims. He has many weapons in his arsenal. One that’s seems innocuous yet is so powerful is Distraction.

Let’s say you buy two season tickets to watch the Milwaukee Bucks. Typically, there are 41 home games per season, so as the season progresses and you still have a lot of games left. You don’t want to waste money, but you can only take one other person. Soon you find that you no longer have time to spend with family, friends, fellow Christians or even helping others. Or you buy a health club membership to get in shape. You used to get up early to read your Bible, pray and spend time with the Lord. Now you don’t have time because you’re working out before you head to work. Or imagine that you buy a spot for a child on a traveling sports team. Now you’re too busy for friends or family, and definitely not church.  

So, what are white elephants in your life?

What are you giving time to that takes away from your time with the One who died for you? Where are you spending time that’s stealing from your relationship with your family? What are you investing in that hinders you from worshipping the Lord with your financial resources? Time and money aren’t the problem, and the activities aren’t bad or necessarily the problem. The problem is a white elephant that’s pulled you away from more important God-honoring pursuits. They give you what Psalm 106:15 calls leanness in your soul.

And God is willing to let us go our own way. He’ll even grant our requests, yet this can come with dire consequences. It teaches us that while God listens to our prayers and demands, He knows what’s truly best for us, even when our immediate desires ultimately result in negative outcomes.

A simple definition of distraction is something that turns your attention away from something you need to concentrate on. Satan loves distracted Christians and doesn’t care what it is. He just wants to turn our focus to the temporal and away from the eternal things of God. It’s often something “good.” It’s just not God’s best or what’s best for us over the long haul. He longs to destroy us. He hates God and us. He often begins by merely distracting us. As we’re distracted we become disconnected from our Jesus and other believers. Distracted Christians are neutralized Christians.

How can we stay spiritually focused in a distracted world?

Pay attention to what you pay attention to. As Christians, we must be careful about what we’re giving our attention to. What we give our attention to is what we’re being discipled by. What fills our minds will ultimately fill our hearts. Romans 12:2 reminds us that Christ-followers are not to be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. In a world brimming with distraction, it’s easy to be squeezed into this world’s mold. If we listen to any and every voice without discretion, we’ll soon be discipled by the popular, worldly and even evil views of our age rather than by the Lord Jesus and His Word. Where we focus, where we spend our time, shapes our lives. What we watch and listen to changes the way we view the world. They change the way we think and even talk.

As Christians, we must prioritize our time with the only One who can give us true wisdom and guide us in making sense of this life and eternity. To be transformed by the renewing of your mind, we must evaluate what we’re filling our minds with to protect our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 warns us, Guard our hearts above all else, for it is the source of life.

Create boundaries and constraints. When it comes to protecting what’s valuable in our lives, we set up boundaries and constraints to make sure those valuables are protected. For example, if you own a dog, you know you can’t trust your dog to stay by your side while you go on a walk. That’s why you put your dog on a leash. No matter how great your dog is, their instinct is to chase a squirrel, a cat, or anything that distracts them, even if it means endangering themselves. 

A leash is a constraint that protects a dog from itself. In the same way, we need to set up constraints and boundaries in our lives to protect ourselves from ourselves. As D.A. Carson put it, People do not drift toward holiness…we drift toward disobedience. We’ll never drift toward God. We drift toward distraction and let other things fill our hearts and minds. And in our day, distraction is always popping up in our lives.  

Set screen time limits. Just as you track your calories, track your screen time. It’s easy, most of us have done it, we endlessly scroll through social media. We let push notifications, calls and texts distract us 24/7. 

Set screen time limits to help you control your time. Ephesians 5:15-16, Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. To make the wisest use of time, we need boundaries. Should you really look at your phone when you’re on a date with your spouse or having family time? Is it distracting you during your quiet time or when you’re at church? It’s healthier for us to set limits. 

Focus on what really matters. It’s the principle of replacement. As Colossians 3:1-2 says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. We can’t just stop giving attention to the world. We must replace it by giving our attention to the things above. The best way to battle distraction is to become enamored and focused with the real world, not the cotton candy of this one. The way to make sure Christ is the ultimate of our heart is to fill our mind with the things of heaven constantly. In an ever-distracted world, the way to stay spiritually focused is to set our minds on the things above.

Distraction is a battle we all fight. Don’t let it defeat you. God’s grace is enough. Focus on what has true significance for eternity and the real world!