Avoiding Distractions

If my sin is caused by my thinking that something other than God will meet my needs and/or satisfy my desires, then the solution is to remember, recognize, and truly believe that only God can give me satisfaction. Then, in believing this to be true, I must trust Him to do so. I must actively seek to find my joy and satisfaction in God. It does no good to quickly pray, “God, meet my need and satisfy my desires,” and then ignore Him the rest of the day. I must be constantly pursuing Him.
But herein lies a great danger. I am far too easily distracted as I go about my day. As I drive down the road, I must pay attention to other cars around me. When I go into the grocery store, the shoe store, or wherever, I am focused on finding what I need to buy. Then I need to focus on dealing with the cashier as I pay for my purchase. At the coffee shop, I run into people I know and engage in conversation with them. At work, I am focused on accomplishing the task at hand.
Right or wrong, it is difficult to focus on God while focusing on all these other things. And it is not practical to lock oneself away in a closet all day. But even on those rare occasions when I can do this, I am easily distracted by my own thoughts. I find myself thinking about things other than God, even as I am on my knees in prayer.
However, the effort must be made. And I would add that the effort of seeking God is not made in a vacuum, anyway. I ought to be finding my joy and satisfaction in God as I am going to the grocery store, as I am doing my job at work, as I am conversing with people at the coffee shop. Furthermore, I am to find satisfaction from God in all these things. It is God who gives me the ability to go to work and perform the task at hand, and I must work “as unto the Lord.” As I engage in conversation with friends, co-workers, or even someone I just met, I am either enjoying fellowship with another Christian, or I am being given opportunity to be a witness to someone who doesn’t know Christ. When I go to the store to buy something I need, it is the result of God’s provision for my physical needs. If I keep God at the center of my focus as I engage in these activities, then I will find my satisfaction in Him, which is reflected in the ability to find a proper satisfaction in all those other things.
But again, it is easy to let these things distract me from God. For instance, when I am talking to someone about sports, politics, the local news, or whatever else may come up. If we are not talking about the things of God, then I am not, in that moment, focused on God. I am focused on the topic of conversation.
Does this mean that I need to steer every conversation toward God? No. But I have seen too many Christians do this. They try to Christianize every conversation they take part in. You can be sitting there, talking about the losing streak you favorite team is on. Then, from out of the blue, someone says, “Well, praise God, we’re just going to keep rooting for them anyway, aren’t we?” What in the world do you say to that? It catches you off-guard. Yes, I always root for my favorite team, no matter how well or poorly they are doing. But what’s God got to do with that? Directly, I mean. There’s no need to specifically mention God in that kind of conversation. And the fact that God may not be mentioned in any given conversation does not necessarily mean that you are not finding your satisfaction in God, even as that conversation is taking place.
Rather, we ought to delight in God in that He gives us the privilege of enjoying the company of those with whom we have such conversations, trusting that discussion about the things of God will come when the time is appropriate.
I am delighting in God by delighting in the blessings He provides, so long as I do not delight in such blessings for themselves. What I mean is that I must not allow the blessings to make me stop short of delighting in the One who provides them. One common cliché is, “Seek the Giver, not the gift.” Though it is difficult, I must not allow the gift to distract me from finding my satisfaction in the Giver.