MOLLY AND ME – DISTRACTIONS

Molly and I walk… well, ramble if one can call Molly’s pace “walking”! … quite often when the weather and old age permit (my old age, of course)! I have never owned a dog that is so distracted on a walk than this little animal. Everything around the block of approximately 1.8km, and I mean everything, distracts her.

If we haven’t walked for a few days, every smell and sight is new. Every tree and pole has new messages (I call them pee-mail), every dog in the neighbourhood must be barked at again, every person walking past must be scrutinised, pee and poo stops must be carefully selected and… and… and…

Then there are an endless array of interesting and challenging smells to navigate, and so, our “walk” is a stop-start affair, to say nothing of her ABS braking system which works efficiently on all four legs. We will be walking along the pavement at a steady pace when, suddenly, she will stop and almost jerk me off my feet. Nothing will move her until she has completed her investigation.

Molly reminds me of us believers who are so easily distracted by irrelevancies on our journey through life. We lose our focus on the “one thing” we should keep before us as we navigate problems, challenges and… yes… irrelevant distractors.

Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT
[1] “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. [2] We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

Jesus never lost sight of His goal. He talked about it,

Matthew 16:21 NLT
[21]” From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.”

prayed about it,

Hebrews 5:7 NLT
[7]”While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.”

John 17:1-2 NLT
[1] “After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. [2] For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him.”

and set His face toward Jerusalem when the time came to fulfil His mission.

Luke 9:51 NLT
[51]”As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”

The Apostle Paul also had his sights set in the goal. Despite his many journeys to undertake, letters to write, churches to care for, new towns and cities to evangelise, believers to teach, enemies to overcome and tents to make to keep the wolf from the door, he did everything with one thing in mind.

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
[13] “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Paul doesn’t reveal the nature of the prize for which he strove so diligently but we find clues in his and other New Testament writings.

John tells me that us what this prize will be in a short, simple statement.

1 John 3:2 NLT
[2]”Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

… “We will be like Him”… what a prize! Ponder this thought for a moment. We will be exact replicas of Jesus, having resurrection bodies like His and a sinless, perfect nature like Him. No doubt we shall still retain our unique individuality, but without sin. Having struggled through this life with an old, sin nature that relentlessly tempts us to do wrong, is there anything more desirable than to be like Jesus?

In all his busyness for the kingdom, Paul never lost sight of the goal. It was his motivation and the energy to continue bringing his fleshly nature into subjection to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 NLT
[25] “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. [26] So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. [27] I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”

My little teacher has done it again, bending my mind, by her behaviour, to another eternal truth we all need to take to heart. Let’s follow the instruction we read at the beginning. Let’s be aware of the distractors that lure us away from our goal. To reach that goal, we need to embrace the grace God gives us daily, to overcome the flesh and to walk by faith and by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT
[1] “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. [2] We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith….”