Luke 9:61-62
“And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
It was the closing days of the summer of 1999, and the days of carefree play were nearing the end for me and my closest friend, Aaron. School would be starting back up soon, and we were excitedly filling the days with as much fun as we could devise. We lived deep in the Western Louisiana Woods, so the great outdoors was our only playground. We went swimming in the Sabine River, fishing in the “Ice Hole” on Pearl Creek, and of course, long ATV rides. Such was the life of country bumpkins like us.
Early one evening, my parents informed me that we would be going to visit my big sister who had gotten married and moved a few miles north of our little community. It was the halfway point between my house and Aaron’s, so I made a phone call and asked him to ride his ATV (or 4-wheeler as we called it) over to my sister’s house and we could ride until it got dark. There was nothing special about that setup. We had done it many times before. However, that evening would be anything but ordinary.
My friend and I both cranked up our machines and rode across the dirt road into the pasture where my bro-in-law kept a few horses. We intended to ride the ATVs for a couple of hours and head back home. We popped wheelies, did donuts in the dirt, and pestered the cows that shared the pasture with the horses. Just two boys being annoying boys.
Dusk was rapidly approaching, and the ambient light began growing dim. I was riding fast. Too fast, if I am being honest. Suddenly, I heard my friend’s voice behind me screaming my name. I turned my head in his direction to see what had him so upset. He was yelling desperately for me to “STOP!” I looked forward again and quickly saw what had him so frightened. There, not three feet in front of me was the barbed wire fence! There was no hope of missing it.
I slammed into that fence at nearly full speed. The bottom strand caught the tires of my 4-wheeler, the middle strand caught my steering controls, and the third strand caught me. The force yanked me off the machine and through the air. The barbs dug into the flesh of my arms and torso. By some miracle, my neck went directly in between the barbs, and I avoided severing any arteries, sustaining only a minor friction burn on my throat and an extremely sore neck.
My life was fortunately spared, although the incident cost me my favorite Tasmanian Devil T-shirt; a fact which upset me greatly! I still carry the scars from that encounter with the fence. Oh, the cost of not hearing the voice of my salvation sooner!
Oh, the cost of not hearing the voice of my salvation sooner!
Dustin Midkiff
In the reference verse in Luke 9, Jesus cautions a man He perceived to be too encumbered with the cares of life, not to spend time looking at what was behind. To us, the man’s request to bid farewell to his family and friends might not seem such an unreasonable thing, but Jesus must have sensed a wavering in his spirit. He must have known that if the man was already distracted before beginning his quest, there was little hope that he would last.
So, what is distraction? The dictionary defines it as a “thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.” For our purposes, it is anything that does not serve the greater mission of our calling to reach the lost. It is the thing we do when we should be doing the main thing.
Please understand that I do not mean that our entire life must be one big push to save the world. However, when considered as a whole, the cause of Christ is to be the central theme of our lives. After all, if His mission is only a fraction of what we do, can we really say we are “living for Him?” If I serve my purpose first and then give Him what time is left, I believe that I am really living for me. I become sovereign and push Him to the margins of my life, and soon I may find myself wondering why I cannot hear His voice anymore. He is not to blame. He remains steadfast. It is I who will have strayed away from the mission.
He deserves the first fruits of my life, and that includes my time and focus. Matthew 6:33a says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness….” We tithe the FIRST ten percent of our income to the Lord so that His work can be done, and so that the remainder can be blessed. Should we not do that with our time also? When I plan my week, should I not first decide what portion of my time will be given back to God in the form of devotion or service? I strongly suspect we would find the remainder of our time blessed if we adopted such a practice in our daily lives.
Distraction can rob us of our drive and our desire, and it may ultimately even cause us to miss our intended destination. It would certainly be a shame to arrive at the end of our journey only to wonder why we were not able to accomplish anything of note with the time we were given. What a tragedy to face God unable to give a righteous account of our days. I for one, do not want to face God knowing that I was a wasteful servant. The distraction must die if I am to please God.
Distraction can rob us of our drive and our desire, and it may ultimately even cause us to miss our intended destination.
Dustin Midkiff
My brush with death on that late summer day in 1999 would sadly not be my last. I have many more harrowing stories to tell, and I regret to say that many of them have their genesis in distraction. I suffered injuries and pain, some of which I carry with me even now, all because I was not focused on my destination. Lord, help us to realize that time is not on our side. Help us to “…lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us….” And as the writer of Hebrews said, keep the end in sight!
Lord, help us to realize that time is not on our side.
Dustin Midkiff
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