Staying focused on Jesus isn’t always easy. The world is full of distractions and our walk with God can sometimes be difficult. But the Bible says that God’s mercies are new every morning. In the midst of distractions, trials, problems, and temptations it’s important to remember that God loves us and that He’s still with us to this day.
Distractions are commonplace in today’s society especially here in the US. Yesterday I thought about how the environment in the United States presents Christians of all ages with struggles in living the Christian life. Temptations are everywhere and are promulgated all around us. Turn on your TV’s and all you’ll see is sin being glamorized. Shows on Netflix, and other streaming sites, and movies promote sin and make it look cool. Celebrities promote sin and make it look cool. All this adds up and without even knowing it your perception on what’s cool is influenced by these factors.
Our identities are found in Christ and not in the world
Unfortunately the world’s distractions want to give us our identity. If our eyes aren’t set on Christ we’ll be more vulnerable to let the world give us our identities. Our eyes have to be set on Christ and if we’ve lost focus today is a good day to refocus our eyes on God.
Nowadays it’s easy to be sucked into what the world offers us. Add this to the problems we face each day as humans and we find ourselves seeking refuge in the things of the world. That’s because sin offers you the promise of making you feel better. But that’s a complete lie because the Bible says that the devil is a liar by nature (John 8:44). There is no truth in him but unfortunately sometimes we fall for his lies. It’s happened to me on a personal level. Temptation comes and it looks beautiful and satisfying. You think to yourself, “It’s just for a moment.” But when you fall in to it you realize afterwards that you made a huge mistake. Guilt, shame, and remorse is all that you’re left with after you tried the forbidden fruit.
Learning From Mistakes
These are learning experiences and I’ve always believed that you can always take something good out of anything bad. I’m not saying go sin to get a learning experience, but if you do sin remember what John said in 1 John 2:1:
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: – 1 John 2:1
If you made a mistake and did something that you know God doesn’t like and it’s hurt you to, come to Christ and ask for forgiveness. The Bible says that whoever comes to Christ, He will in no way cast them out (John 6:37). The distractions we face in this world are very real. And the pressure of fitting in can sometimes overpower us. But these are all reasons to seek God even more. We’re not perfect, but we do have a perfect God.
Difficult But Not Impossible
It’s not easy to be a Christian in today’s time especially here at home in the US, but the Bible says that nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37). Distractions, problems, temptations, they’re real. Sometimes we’ll lose focus and fall. But the most important thing is to get back up and keep going.
When I used to fall I would run away from God because I was ashamed of what I did. I had so much guilt and I felt like God was mad at me and I had to wait for Him to forgive me and give me another opportunity. But one day I read Romans which says,
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. – Romans 8:13
I realized that the most important thing we can do whenever we fall is to run to Christ and not away from Him. The devil wants to keep you away from God but the only way we can live a fulfilling life is by being with God. We’re imperfect humans with a perfect God and the more time we spend with God the more we’ll be like Him. It’s like any relationship: the more time you spend with a person the more you’ll start to share the same qualities as that person. There’s hope as long as long as we’re breathing so I encourage you to keep persevering. You’ll have your good days and your bad days but through it all God has promised to be with you.
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – Matthew 28:20
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