Wednesday Bible Blurb Distracted Christians 4 15 2026
The traffic on I-5 in Oregon was at a standstill. We had pulled up behind a vehicle and come to a complete stop because the traffic heading out of Portland was so dense. We were on the I-5 parking lot which was supposed to be moving at 65 miles per hour. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to assist in teaching Defensive Driving classes. What I learned paid off while sitting still on I-5 in Oregon. We had stopped far enough behind the car in front of us so that I could see their back wheels (Safety tip number 1: Always give yourself some maneuvering room when stopped behind a vehicle. Stop while you can still see their rear wheels.). (Safety tip number 2: Always make sure you look behind you.). As we sat in traffic, I saw a large Amazon delivery van coming up fast behind us swerving between two lanes. Quickly I stomped on the gas and steered our van off to the left side of the freeway. The Amazon van swerved to the right and barley missed hitting our van as it went back into the lane next to us. If I had not been paying attention, we would have likely been rear ended. What distracted the van driver?
Modern American highways have rumble strips on the sides of the road and cement barricades down the middle of the road. These nifty safety inventions are to help keep drivers going down the center of their lane and not drifting off the highway. The rumble strips on the side of the highway warn the driver when they have started to drift off the road. The cement barricades are an attempt to keep vehicles from hitting each other head on. Why do drivers drift on the road when they drive? There are many reasons drivers get distracted while driving and drift into trouble. Lack of sleep, tuning the radio, talking on the phone, eating and texting. It only takes a second of distraction to cause a potentially disastrous accident.
Are we ever distracted from our Christian walk with Jesus? We live in a world full of distractions meant to move our minds away from God and onto the cares of this world. Everyday we are bombarded by advertisements on TV, radio and now the internet which are designed to make us focus on material things rather than Godly things. Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2 [NKJV]) and the “God of this world. (II Cor. 4:4). Turn on your computer and beware of what comes to your viewing. Satan has designed a world to distract us from focusing on God.
As Christians do we suffer from spiritual lane drift? As Christians do we allow our minds to wander where our minds should not wander? It is easy to become a distracted Christian. Judas had a wandering mind. “But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.” (John 12:4-6). Judas was not focused on Jesus; he allowed his mind to focus on money instead.
King David was walking on his rooftop one night when he turned on his neighborhood internet. There, below him on another roof top was a very beautiful woman taking a bath. She caught the king’s attention. Instead of looking away he allowed himself to become a distracted king and he watched her bathe. He could easily have moved on to another kingly internet site but instead he allowed his mind to wander and lust. He ignored the rumble strips along the highways of his mind and went right through the cement barricade and crashed headlong into the depths of adultery and murder. Bathsheba became pregnant. Uriah was murdered and the baby died. A distracted King is a bad thing.
Jesus gave us examples of how to not become a distracted Christian.
- Like a horse with side blinders on we must focus and seek first His kingdom and His way of life. (Matt. 6:33).
- When the Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is, He answered with a clarity of focus which should give each of us pause to do what He said. His answer is all about focusing on God and not drifting into a lane of sin. “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-39). When we focus on loving God and our neighbors with all our heart it becomes very difficult to drift over to the highway rumble strip of sin.
About 20 years ago I received an early morning phone call from a distraught widow. She was not a widow the day before but by the time she called me that morning, she was very much a widow with two small children. When the conversation starts with “how do I file a life insurance claim”, I always knew someone had a bad night. Driving home from the Bakken Oil fields in North Dakota the night before, her husband had gotten sleepy, so he asked his traveling partner to drive. Heading west on I-90 in central Montana the driver began to text and drive. He was driving distracted and doing around 90 miles per hour as the road began to go up over the continental divide when he slammed into the back of a slow moving 18-wheeler. It was my first texting and driving claim and we paid out over $500,000 to the families.
How easily distracted can we Christians become? Are we distracted like Judas? David? Texting and driving? James, the brother of Jesus tells us how to remain focused on Jesus and how not spiritually lane drift onto the rumble strips of sin. “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:7). James has given us a nice working formula to keep us from becoming distracted Christians. 1) Submit to God. Do what God says. 2) Resist the devil. This takes a conscious effort. If only David had changed the channel that night on the roof top. 3) Draw close to God (this takes effort on our part) and wonderfully He will draw close to us.
Jesus had a job to do. On His final night on earth as a human, He prayed to God as He knew what terror lay ahead for Him that night. Humanly He wanted a way out, but He would not allow even the pain and humiliation of crucifixion to distract Him from the job He had been sent to do. During His prayer He simply said, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42). He did not drift into the rumble strip of life or hit the barricade in the center of the highway. He remained true on the straight and narrow and he never drifted of course.
Remain focused on Jesus and do not allow yourself to lane drift into the rumble strips of distraction this world has to offer.
Mike Wallace
