By Jason Smith

Life is filled with distractions that pull us away from what matters most. We all know this. Most likely, there have been times where you have recognized this fact playing out in your life. You spend a whole evening watching TV; afterwards, you wonder if that was time well-spent. Or, you spend hours shopping for the perfect thing to meet your needs only to come up empty. Or perhaps you get stuck reading one news feed after another until you realize that an hour has zipped by and little was really accomplished.

So how do we avoid these time-wasting distractions and make time for God? I think it’s helpful to consider what a distraction really is: something that pulls your attention away from what you need to focus on. In a way, it’s like when I make a run to the grocery store to buy some milk. If I’m focused on getting to the milk, I will probably take the most direct pathway. Of course, milk is nearly always tucked away in the far corner of the store (it’s a big marketing conspiracy to entice your eyes with everything else the store has to offer when you’re really only there for the essentials), so I have to maneuver my way through a host of potential distractions.

Oh, look – cookies. That would go well with the milk. Oh, and there’s some salad options – better grab something healthy, too. And look! The cereal is on sale! It would be pretty silly to get milk and not get cereal…

You get the picture. But imagine that before you even step foot in the store, you make the commitment to not be distracted by any other potential purchases. You tell yourself, “All right. I’m coming out those doors with nothing but a jug of milk in my hand.” Imagine you even let a friend know about your plan so that they can help hold you accountable. That would probably firm up your resolve.

All In

When it comes to seeking God, it’s not all that different. When you truly commit to making time for fellowship with your Creator, it will happen. Just like the man in love with a woman will let no hindrance or distraction interfere with their time together, so it is with the one who truly seeks God. God never calls for half-hearted commitment from us. He wants us to be all in.

Consider how Moses counseled the people of Israel before they entered the land God promised them. He reminded them first of the miraculous deeds God did to bring them all the way out of slavery in Egypt to where they now stood. He then warned about the temptation to seek after “man-made gods” of the neighboring nations, which are counterfeits of the true and living God. After warning about their susceptibility to these dishonoring distractions, Moses said, “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29, NIV). Essential to seeking God is obeying His Word:

“You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” (Deuteronomy 5:32, ESV)

In other words, don’t let anything sidetrack you from walking with the Lord and listening to His voice.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus similarly urged us to love God with our entire being: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, NIV).

Jesus called for comprehensive, wholehearted devotion. He knew that anything less than wholesale commitment to God was a woeful neglect of the purpose for which we have been made.

The Problem

The problem, as the Bible describes it, is that our loves are disordered:

“For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:2-4, ESV)

Created by God and for God, we all have chosen instead to live for ourselves. This is the basic definition of what the Bible calls “sin.” Martin Luther said that we are incurvatus in se. That is, our hearts are turned inward, so that we live for ourselves rather than for God. Though our hearts cannot be satisfied apart from God, our affections have been so warped that the self has become the center of gravity. This is the universal problem of sin.

The worst part is that we can’t break out of this cycle. Even our best deeds are marred by patterns of self-centered thinking. Our hearts are chained to the desires that displease God. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34, ESV).

The Remedy

So, what’s the remedy?

Only Jesus can break the hold that sin has on our hearts so that we can seek Him. It’s as though the poison of sin was gathered up in a bottle, and Jesus willingly drank it for us. The anguish and punishment owing to us was borne by Him. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV).

Living to God and righteousness is our created purpose. But only through Jesus can this great purpose be realized. Jesus said if He sets us free, we will be free indeed (John 8:36).

When you come to Christ, not only is the power of sin broken, but you now have new Spirit-wrought desires to live fully for Him. The self can no longer reign. There is only room on the throne for one King.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:25, ESV)

When Jesus spoke those words, taking up one’s cross could only mean one thing: it was a call to die to oneself, that you might fully live for Him. That’s why Peter said Jesus bore our sins “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Jesus calls us to lay everything down – our pride, our ambitions, our self-centered thinking, our fear that we might miss out on something better – and follow Him with abandon. In Jesus’s words, anything less is to “forfeit your soul” (v. 26).

Wholehearted Devotion

What does all this mean? We can only seek God fully when we surrender ourselves to Him. We can only say “Yes” to God without reservation when we have first said “No” to our own selfish pursuits. We will know we are seeking God when we are spending time with Him in His Word, the Bible.

“Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart.” (Psalm 119:2, BSB)

“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10, ESV)

Jesus calls for wholehearted devotion, because He knows that seeking God is the only path to true life. Those who follow Jesus now live in a new direction. This will mean laying aside all distractions that seek to steal our attention away. The Bible is clear that those who follow Jesus with a whole heart will look radically different from the rest of the world. Not only will this mean going against the grain of the world around us, it will also mean going against the grain of the selfish desires that still cling to our hearts in this life.

You might be thinking, I don’t know if this is for me. I’ve already chosen a different direction for my life. I’m not even sure God would want something to do with me anyway.

But the Bible says God is rich in mercy. In fact, He’s not a God looking for a reason to cast you aside. Consider how Scripture describes His character:

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” (Micah 7:18, NIV)

Did you catch that? God delights to show mercy. He takes great joy in pouring out grace and forgiveness on sinners who surrender to Him. As long as there is still breath in your lungs, this applies to you.

“Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.” (Isaiah 55:6, NASB)

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