My son, pay attention to my words; listen closely to my saying.  don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart.  For they are life to those who find them, and health to one’s whole body.  Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.  Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don’t let your lips talk deviously.  Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.  Carefully consider the path for your feet, and all your ways will be established.  Don’t turn to the right or to the left; keep your feet away from evil.  Proverbs 4:20-27 HCSB

Have you ever tried to tell someone something that you consider really important only to be interrupted again and again?  What’s even worse is when the person you are trying to talk to becomes so distracted by these interruptions that they are not even listening to what you have to say.  Can you imagine how God must feel when He is trying to talk to us and we are not listening because we are allowing ourselves to be distracted by the devil?

As Christians, we become easily distracted.  The devil wants to distract us with the things of the world.  And the things, wow there are so many things.  There is so much evil.  There is so much bad news.  There is so much corruption.  There are so many temptations.  There are so many things to distract us.

If we are not careful, our Christianity can be interrupted.  I have experienced this a couple of times in my life.  I have been going along trying to do good and be a good Christian and I have been derailed by distractions of this world.  Life’s hurts can distract us.  When we are betrayed or rejected, we can become distracted.  Relationships that seem good, but that don’t honor God, can distract us.  Jobs that seem to suck the very life right out of us can become distractions.  Problems with family members, be it biological family or church family, can distract us.

So what’s a Christian to do?  Well, fortunately our scripture passage for today answers that question.  First and foremost we are instructed to pay close attention to God’s words and listen closely to His sayings.  This means, don’t just read your bible but study your bible.  Find a good bible study and join in.  I have done some wonderful bible studies through our church that have explained the bible to me and spoken God’s word to me in ways that I have never picked up through just reading the scripture. When we read the bible, we are reading God’s instruction manual for our lives.  We are told to keep these words in our heart for they are life to those that find them.  In Psalm 119:11, David says that he has stored up God’s word in his heart, that he might not sin against God.  It is easier to avoid the temptation of sin when we keep God’s word in our hearts.

When we keep God’s word in our hearts, we must be careful to guard our hearts.  If you had 10 million dollars cash in a box I bet you would guard it heavily.  God’s word is life to us, it’s worth more than any amount of money, yet we fail to guard our hearts against temptation and sin.

We are then told not to let our mouths speak dishonestly or let our lips talk deviously.  My mouth is my biggest problem, I will admit that.  If only I could learn to keep it shut when it needs to be shut and open when I need to speak.  I need to always remember Ephesians 4:29 which tells us to let no corrupt talk come out of our mouths but only that which is good for building up so that it may give grace to those who hear.  When we speak, it should bring glory to God.  We should lift others up, not tear them down.  My grandma used to tell me if I couldn’t say something good about somebody to keep my mouth shut, so it’s like that.

The next thing we must remember is to keep our focus on God.  Matthew 6:33 tells us that if we put God first that He will take care of everything else.  It tells us to seek Him.  You can’t seek God if you are looking away from Him.  Our scripture passage for today tells us to focus straight ahead.  We need to watch where we are going and keep our paths straight.  Matthew 7:13 tells us to enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction.  When we put God first and carefully consider the path that we take, God establishes our way. Proverbs 16:9 tells us that a man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.  God has good plans for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11).  His will is going to be done. In order for us to have a good life, we need to be in God’s will.

Last but not least we are told to not turn to the right or to the left, but to keep our feet away from evil.  When we are headed straight for God, the devil will try to convince us that we are going the wrong way.  He will try to convince us to detour.  This is why our focus is so important.

I have set my course on God.  I have learned to continually pray to God for wisdom and discernment and guidance. I thank God that He is quick to point out when the devil is using a particular situation to try to distract me.  In keeping my focus on God, I can avoid being interrupted.  I pray that you can do the same.

Have a great day!