Distractions

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Today’s reading comes from the book of Luke. Luke 10:38-41. “While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

The Lord answered her, “Martha Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but nothing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I love this story because there is so much happening in this short story. But I want to break down this scripture and talk about some key things that pop out to me. But first I want to read a few statistics

65 percent of parents, ages 25-34, believe they check their phone too much.

45 percent of parents get distracted while having a conversation with their kids.

47 percent of kids say they would confiscate a parent’s mobile device if they could.

53 percent of parents believe they check their phone too much.

47 percent of parents believe their children spend more time on their mobile device than with them.

Verse 38- Jesus was traveling with his disciples and we know throughout the Gospels Jesus rarely travelled alone. So when he came to a village, Martha has either already heard about Jesus or she was moved from one of his talks. When she saw Jesus she came to him and wanted him to enter her dwelling. She wanted Him to come into her home, because she wanted him close. This is how all early Christians start. We all start out with wanting more of Jesus and wanting him in our hearts. I want you to visulize this. You go to Jesus and want him to come over. In this time, it was very common for families to have people over for fellowship. This was a big part of commuities. It’s like a party or a festival. Compare it to having family over during the holidays. This is no easy task, but we all want do have family over because we want them in our dwelling. So Martha already mentally prepared that fellowshipping with Jesus was going to take work, but she wanted Him in her home. She probably bragged to everyone she knew about Jesus coming over for dinner, because we later see Mary at her house. And this is where it gets juicy. This is were we typically see the family fueds happing during holidays.

And why did this encounter start with such a good intention, but end with bad results. It’s becasue Martha got distracted. Our world is very dependent on distractions. It appears to me that our distractions don’t ever go away, unfortunately, they just roll into another distraction. We have gadgets all around us that were designed to promote connection and to help stream information but have become a distraction to majority of the people in this world. It’s not just gadgets, its seasons, phases of our lives, diseases or sickness, it’s everything. It doesn’t matter if how old you are, how sick you are, how busy you are in life…. you are always distracted. This is a tactic that this materialistic world continually uses to separate you from God. This tactic is to draw your eyes onto your problems and not on the one who has the power to take away all of your problems. The isralites did this, they escaped Egypt and as soon as they took their eyes off God…what happened? They created a Golden Calf and stopped focusing on God. The went down a path that was going to lead back into destruction.

Because Martha was distracted by her tasks she became angry, bitter, resentful towards her sister. Because Mary wasn’t being distracted and listening to Jesus’ teachings, Martha fell into the trap of losing sight of God and went onto a path of destrcution. These emotions filled her heart and mind. She did something that was extremely rare and uncommon. She went to the prized guest and complained to about her family. This is rare because guests in this age are treated like royalty. They are to be shown the greatest hospitality. They are the focal point of the entire experience. She went to Jesus and complained about her sister, who was just listening to Jesus. Imagine if Jesus was in your living room talking about God and giving a small sermon. Your sitting there and suddenly you hear a crash of dishes in the kitchen. Then you see your brother or sister sweeping around all the guests and running around. How distracting would that be? This is where I think the difference between Martha and Mary are. Martha wanted the bragging rights and just wanted life being breathed into her.

There are many things in this world, but Jesus has pointed out. There is only “one thing” that is necessary. This one thing Jesus has pointed out is more important than the daily tasks and that is the living Word of God. This has been a repeating topic that Jesus has mention before in the Gospels.

Matthew 4:1-4

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. Then the tempter approached Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.””

Jesus has stated that the living word of God is worth more than food itself. He proved to us that the word of God is more valuable than eating.

John 4:1-15

“When Jesus knew that the Pharisees heard He was making and baptizing more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went again to Galilee. He had to travel through Samaria, so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well. It was about six in the evening. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, for His disciples had gone into town to buy food. “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” “Sir,” said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than o…”

Jesus has stated that the living word has eternal lasting fulfillment that is more valuable than water. So Jesus has pointed out twice in the Bible that the Word of God is more valuable than food and water. Let me tell you something. I have three young children and there isn’t a big enough distraction that will hide the fact that they are hungry or thirsty. They will tell me with a very distinct voice that is near deafening that they are hungry or thirsty for the rest of eternity. So if God’s word is so valuable, then how do we become so distracted by everything else.

It’s very easy to be distracted. Even Pastors become distracted. A 2013 study from the Schaeffer Institute [1] reports that 1,700 pastors leave the ministry each month, citing depression, burnout, or being overworked as the primary reasons.

According to the study, 90% of pastors report working 55 to 70 hours a week, and 50% of them feel unable to meet the demands of the job.

I believe this completely, because last year I was deployed to the Middle East, and I was brand new to the unit. I did not realize how much free time I had before people started to get to know who I was. In fact, I did not realize how much little sleep you really need to semi-function as a Chaplain. During the 10 months in the middle east, I had three days off. Now that was a lot to do with my fault, because I became distracted with everyone else’s problems. It’s easy to fall into this trap. In fact, majority of the time that I catch myself, I’m already neck deep into something. These distractions are ever so slight and they just creep into your lives without any hiccup or major disruption. I remember when I downloaded Tiktok, which is a app on your phone that shows 30 second clips of people making random videos. This app has a very weird supernatural magical power. I remember several times, not just once, that I opened the app at night and magically when I look up from my phone, the sun is rising. It sucked all my attention that I did not realize that I wasted all night watching stupid worthless videos…on multiple nights. I realized that I had to delete the app because I was losing sleep and couldn’t function the next day.

Jesus makes a heed warning. He repeats Martha’s name twice. That’s like being called by your full name by your mother or father with your hand caught in the cookie jar. In fact there are only 10 times where a name or place is repeated. Here’s another emphasis, it has only been recorded 10 times in over the span of 4000 years. Here are some examples: In Genesis when Abraham is about to sacrifice his son. The Angel calls out his name. When Saul was on his way to Dismacus, Jesus called out his name during the vision. Or “Lord Lord” when Jesus called out to his father asking why he had been forsaken. Every single time that a name or place was called out was a serious incident.

In Bible Seminary we learned whenever something is repeated in the Bible there’s a very sophisticated process that the rest of us call that a clue. Jesus is trying to get Martha’s attention to pull her from that distraction. That something that is pulling her away from sitting and learning from the living Word of God. Martha doesn’t realize that she is so entrapped into her duties that she is missing the salvation that has been brought to her house.

The world’s distractions work exactly like Sin. Sin doesn’t kick down the door of you heart and say “Here I am” No! It slowly creeps, waits, and then pounces into a perfect moment of your life.

1 peter 5:8- Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

A lion when hunting doesn’t roar and make a lot of noise. It creeps in the shadows, hides in the tall grass, lays and waits. It hunts with intent to kill and destroy. Luke Chapter 4 talks about the Devil tempting Jesus. At the end of the section it reads Verse 13 “After the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him for a time.”

But if you watch documentaries, like I was suffered to do as a kid because my dad loved the wildlife, a lion doesn’t attack the strongest of the pack. In fact, when it’s hunting it looks for the weak, sick, or injured. It analysis each animal watching closely. This is why it’s important to keep your eyes on God, because all it takes is a moment of vulnerability to become prey of the lion.

All it takes is one phone call, or text, or thought to lose sight of God. One conversations that starts with “I want a divorce”, one text that says “I have cancer”, one thought of no one will ever know.

You see if we keep our eyes on God, then we keep our eyes on the prize of salvation. If we keep the Word on our hearts, then we won’t faulter from the guidance that the Bible has given us. We don’t have to worry about becoming prey or falling into Sin. If we stay in fellowship and sit at the foot of Jesus listening to the Living Word then we never have to worry about disappointing God. However, we all come prey to this trap in the world. It’s call “old sin nature” it is the consequence of being born from Adam and Eve and being part of this world. Be we all know there is another option.

Go back to today’s verse, Jesus said that Mary has “Chosen the good part.” Jesus has given us the ability to come back before God. Repent our sins and be right with God even after our failures. Even after we have been distracted with Sin or other things in our life that don’t produce life. All we have to do is call onto Jesus. All we have to do is hit our knees and pray. All we have to do is call out to Jesus’ name and call him Lord. All we have to do is resist the distractions.

A wise person told me recently that you have to be a broken record to the world. Meaning when someone or something want’s your attention, they won’t stop until they start sucking the life out of you. Think about a situation whenever you wanted to dedicate time to finish a project or thought. For me, it never fails that whenever I’m on the phone my kids decide to be the loudest most rambunctious people on the face of this earth. As soon as I hang up the phone in frustration, the go completely silent. What about you? When you want to focus on one thing, how does the world distract you.

Here’s another illustration. Try this whenever you’re alone in a quiet place. Start praying to God and time yourself. Go for as long as possible, but the moment you ask God for something or a thought or another distraction happens stop the timer. I think you will be quite surprised on the results. I did this test in Seminary. I woke up early in the morning, got on my knees and prayed in my study. It took me a whole whooping 30 seconds before my mind wasn’t praising or thinking about God. That’s how easy it was to distract me. But we have to be broken records. Consistently telling everyone, including ourselves, to focus on God. Stop worrying about the world and rely on God. Give him praise and glory. Stop becoming distracted and focusing on the “good choice” and the “living water” because that is what is going to change your life.

Im going to end with a very short story.

During a training class, A former police officer tells of the tactics of roving bands of thieves: "They enter the store as a group. One or two separate themselves from the group, and the others start a loud commotion in another section of the store. This grabs the attention of the clerks and customers. As all eyes are turned to the disturbance, the accomplices fill their pockets with merchandise and cash, leaving before anyone suspects. Hours;sometimes even days;later, the victimized merchant realizes things are missing and calls the police. Too late.

When are you going to make Jesus your distraction? When are you going to focus back onto God? I hope you do it immediately because we don’t know when it’s going to be too late.