How Distraction Has Changed Our Focus

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24 NLT

Growing up, my dad always told us to ensure we did not major in the minor and minor in the major. I knew it meant staying focused on the right things, but I didn’t understand it until I grew independent.

Distraction is a big deal, and it’s one of the enemy’s tactics for keeping us away from God. The world’s system has been engineered to take every waking hour. 

That shouldn’t be a problem because we can always pray without ceasing—speaking in other tongues even as we go about our day. But even that has been snuffed out through forgetfulness and poor prioritisation of building fellowship with God.

Eventually, we minor in the major for many years until we realise later that we don’t have the strength to return. 

Because Apostle Paul connected his worth to the assignment of the gospel, anything he did outside of this would equate to worthlessness, and his mind wouldn’t allow that.

How can we ensure we focus and work on the main thing?

Here’s something to understand: being a Doctor, running those businesses, releasing hit albums back to back, or being an expert accountant isn’t the assignment. Those are just vehicles.

The assignment is living the gospel through these vehicles. We are never called to occupy roles. We are called to be and show the good news to others in these roles.

But the vehicle has been exalted above the reason. This is how we’ve been distracted. God gets specific about the vehicle He wants for us through our gifts and skills. 

But as we drive these vehicles, we must never lose sight of the actual work. To do this, it’s always important to ask God how he’d have us do the work each day.

As we stay in His presence through prayer, He speaks to us, influencing our thoughts, speech, emotions, and actions throughout the day so that we become channels of His will being done on earth as in heaven.

“I stay focused on my assignment.”

To get our focus back, we must remind ourselves why we do what we do.

In what ways can you be intentional about staying in God’s presence? Fix that, and the other dominos will fall into place.