Distraction is attraction to anything or anyone that is not consistent with your goal. The solution to negative distraction is to focus on positive attraction, as the magnetic composition of our bodies and our thoughts will always attract and be attracted to something and someone. Distractions result in many people failing to achieve their goals. The Christian walk is no exception. From my Today’s devotion,We are invited to deal with distraction that takes our eyes and minds off of Jesus, His Word and His calling. In order to better understand distraction, we need only to understand “attraction.”The Online Dictionary of Etymology tells us that both the late 14th century French word “attraction” and the Latin word “ attraction em” were originally medical terms that meant “absorption by the body” and then “action of drawing to”. By the 17th century, the meaning extended to magnetic and eventuality to personal qualities.An attraction is therefore anything or anyone that draws you to itself, catches and holds your attention, and absorbs your interest and time. When we find something or someone attractive, we are saying that person or thing is an attraction and is attracting us.
But not so fast! Is it not true that what attracts you might not attract me? Whether it is sports, movies, food, clothes, human physical structures, architecture or almost anything else, what attracts some people will not attract others. Since that is so, we are forced to agree that the power of something to attract your attention is given by you, the person who is attracted. Why does the same pornographic movie attract one person, and makes the next person vomit? The answer can only lie in the fact that the two people are different. The attractive power in pornography, as in everything else, is derived from the person who is attracted. It is true that like attraction, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
So let us turn the searchlight on to where it needs to be focused on ourselves. John 14:30 in the Amplified Bible Commentary quotes Jesus. “ I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]” Temptation is attraction to the wrong thing or person. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)If you have not as yet surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you face a major crisis of being eternally separated from God. This crisis can be averted only through inviting Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and to take up residency in your life. Full stop. However, as Christians we must , by the help of the Holy Spirit, daily work on strategically creating a mental, physical, emotional, social and spiritual environment that will attract “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1;3)
To do this is simple, but will take lust-like desire, time and patience. Consume your daily limit of 24 hours in constructively fellowshiping with other Christians, reading and studying God’s Word, praying, and confessing your sin to God, and to one another where practical. Earn money to support yourself and help those in need. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, and everything else of which God approves. Viciously abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. Do this over and over every day until it becomes a habit. You will feel the attractive power of sin and evil become weaker and weaker in your life, as the Devil finds less and less in you that belongs to him. More and more you will find that what used to distract you, becomes nothing more than a trivial irritation before it hibernates indefinitely.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face…
And the things of this world will grow strangely dim…
In the light of His glory and grace!”
Thoughts from Dr Perspective
But not so fast! Is it not true that what attracts you might not attract me? Whether it is sports, movies, food, clothes, human physical structures, architecture or almost anything else, what attracts some people will not attract others. Since that is so, we are forced to agree that the power of something to attract your attention is given by you, the person who is attracted. Why does the same pornographic movie attract one person, and makes the next person vomit? The answer can only lie in the fact that the two people are different. The attractive power in pornography, as in everything else, is derived from the person who is attracted. It is true that like attraction, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
So let us turn the searchlight on to where it needs to be focused on ourselves. John 14:30 in the Amplified Bible Commentary quotes Jesus. “ I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]” Temptation is attraction to the wrong thing or person. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)If you have not as yet surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you face a major crisis of being eternally separated from God. This crisis can be averted only through inviting Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and to take up residency in your life. Full stop. However, as Christians we must , by the help of the Holy Spirit, daily work on strategically creating a mental, physical, emotional, social and spiritual environment that will attract “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1;3)
To do this is simple, but will take lust-like desire, time and patience. Consume your daily limit of 24 hours in constructively fellowshiping with other Christians, reading and studying God’s Word, praying, and confessing your sin to God, and to one another where practical. Earn money to support yourself and help those in need. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, and everything else of which God approves. Viciously abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. Do this over and over every day until it becomes a habit. You will feel the attractive power of sin and evil become weaker and weaker in your life, as the Devil finds less and less in you that belongs to him. More and more you will find that what used to distract you, becomes nothing more than a trivial irritation before it hibernates indefinitely.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face…
And the things of this world will grow strangely dim…
In the light of His glory and grace!”
Thoughts from Dr Perspective
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Uhanan Mimi
Uhanan Mimi
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