God's Seed: Distractions

I lost my wallet yesterday. Too many things going on in my mind at one time. I stopped for gas, and evidently did not quite get the wallet back into my pocket correctly. What a mess! Fortunately, I have only one credit card which I canceled. I called my bank and reported the ATM card gone. Now I have to replace my driver's license and several other cards. Plus a new wallet.

When I called my financial institutions, they asked if I reported it to the police. I had not, and I am still wondering if it is a good idea. If it had been stolen, it would be a no-brainer. (I suppose technically, the 80% honest person who found it, took the $40 and tossed it, could be considered a thief. It wasn't planned, just a chance opportunity.) But it would be nice if someone would say if it was wise or not. [I have since run into a policeman, asked him, and officially reported it.]

With helping my daughter change her major at the local community college, and losing my wallet, it was a frazzling day. I was grumpy, grouchy, cranky and several other dwarf-names by noon. And I walked it all without God.

Jesus talks about how God's word is planted among thorns. Thorns choke off water and nutrients from getting to the plants. They are life thieves.

The worries of the world are like spiritual thorns. And losing a wallet is a worry of the world. It disrupts the focus of your heart. A person's brain flies in a million directions besides feeling like a total idiot. Look at all the opportunities, the real thief, Satan has to sneak in. There has to be a multitude of agreements -- foremost being that one really is a total idiot -- that Satan would love to hook into you heart.

Wealth is a thorn too. It's not having wealth that is a problem. Poverty has its own share of thorniness. It is how wealth focuses your heart. people look at wealth as if it isd the final solution to all problems. "Can't buy me love" as the song says. It cannot secure beauty, hope, meaning or worth. There are a whole of things the spirit needs to thrive that can't be bought. And people do try to buy them. Or a substitute. And the heart focus on God and the relationship with him get buried. So, the heart experiences a lack of its most vital nutrient.

There are other desires that can block a person's heart from focusing on God. We probably all know people who had to have a boy\girl friend. The pursuit of "couple-ness" left them frustrated and miserable, without a God-focus in their heart. I have a fairly long list of secular idols -- things people focus their heart on in place of God -- that constitute things people use to attempt to fill an empty spot in their hearts.

And without this heart focus, our lives are cut off from God's life flowing to us. There is no growth and no fruit. God is not glorified. We are not living as designed. They enemy succeeds somewhat.

It would seem no matter what life throws at us, what ever good (a new boy\girl firend) or bad (losing a wallet), we need to renew our heart focus on God. That focus connects us to the giver of life, and the relationship we were designed to have.