Enemies of Progress – Distractions
I have found distractions to be the greatest enemy of progress in my life. Distractions affected me the most through the years I was mentally ill, challenging my efforts at times to recovery.
Satan works by the 3 “D’s”.
1. Distraction
2. Deception and
3. Dislocation.
Anything that can take attention away from your focus on God’s purpose for your life is a distraction, and that’s what we will look at today.
I remember a time when I had planned to complete a project that involved drawing up plans, securing approvals, fund-raising and a few other activities for my Dad over a decade ago.
I started of with gusto. Hello, someone, have you been there before? As it stands today, this project is yet to be completed at the time of writing. Sigh!
Distractions can be in two main forms – blatantly obvious or subtle.
In the Bible, there were two characters, Tobias and Samballatt. They tried several tactics against Nehemiah to halt the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem by distracting them. They tried scorn, mockery, provocation, conspiracy, violent plans, you name it. But in spite of terrifying audacious challenges coming from every side, the wall was built.
Distractions can be subtle in nature too. They can start with something like a question that introduces doubt to your focus. When these questions are asked, you may not think of them as a distraction, but something that is even valid. Sometimes these questions can come from within us.
When distractions are subtle by nature, our resistance to them is often reduced as we are taken off guard. It is said that a counterfeit has to be close to an original to be given attention.
Look out for those subtle things that are distracting us. Therein lies where your issues are with lack of focus!
The longer a distraction remains, the more accepting we become of them. Gradually as we continue to become more distracted, we become less focused on what we were trying to achieve and end up shelving some good intended projects or plans or getting misdirected in our purpose.
If something is distracting you today, make up your mind today that you will make a change, put a stop to it and re-focus. A stitch in time certainly saves nine. Even if you have been very distracted on a certain thing for years, it is never too late to make a change.
And that also applies to my 10 year old project!
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