Being Delivered From Being Distracted

A pastor recently accused me of being as focused as a laser! I wish that were true, but, unfortunately, staying focused has been one of my major battles.

I remember having a great deal of trouble at the church I served when I first went to Florida. I would call my pastor (Rufus Caraway) every week or so, asking him what I needed to do with the church members that were giving me trouble. Invariably, he would tell me to stay focused. He would explain to me that the enemy was simply trying to distract me from doing what God had called me to do. This went on for a couple of months. Pastor Caraway's response was so predictable, when I would tell my wife that I needed to call him, she'd say, "I don't know why Dave, he's going to tell you to stay focused."

I'd call him and unload the latest saga and after listening patiently, he would say, "Stay focused, Brother Lamb." Looking back now, I must admit, it was comical! But I found that, slowly but surely, when I'd think about calling him, I'd check myself, saying, "Lamb, you don't need to be told to stay focused again, you need to get focused!" He finally got it through my thick skull. I now find myself counseling my church folk to ... you got it ... stay focused!

Being focused on God and His kingdom is imperative. We spend way too much time chasing down every rumor, putting out every little fire, and, basically, majoring on minors and minoring on majors! We must go forward! We must press toward the mark for the prize of  the high calling of God in Christ Jesus! Get focused on what's most important ... the will of God in your life!

It reminds me of the policeman who said he noticed the bumper sticker on a guy's car portraying a cell phone with a circle drawn around it and line drawn through it signifying he was opposed to talking on cell phones while driving. The officer liked it and decided he'd pull up beside him and give the guy a big thumbs up to let him know. When he got up to his window he found, to his surprise, the guy was looking into his rear view mirror shaving with an electric razor! It turns out he was a distracted hypocrite! I hope he didn't wreck because that's what distracted drivers do, they wreck! And that's what distracted Christians and distracted churches and distracted ministries do ... they pile it up and hurt everyone that is attached to them!


Amy Carmichael was born in Ireland in the 1800‘s. She became a missionary to India. And, believe it or not, she didn't take a furlough the entire 55 years she labored in that field! She won thousands of souls to Christ.

People would often ask her, “How can a single woman like you live this way? How can you work in such a hostile territory without fear?” She would always tell them the same story.

When she first arrived in India, she had a dream or a vision.  She saw a great gulf. It was deep and dark and dreadful! She could see people marching blindly towards this gulf. Some were falling right over the edge and going into the flames of Hell! She began to notice that there were people standing around the edge of that gulf; people that had perfect sight! Their eyes had been opened-they were Christians! But these people were doing nothing. Some of them were reading books! Some of them were building things! Carpenters were making chairs to sit down in. Some were building houses to live in. They weren’t sinning! They were just busy! And all the while, people were walking right by them, going to Hell!

When Amy Carmichael woke up, God spoke to her, saying, “Don’t get distracted from what I’ve called you to do!” 

That vision got a hold of Amy Carmichael.  And for the rest of her life, She conquered the Spirit of distraction!


Time is short, so we can't trifle it away! We don't have time to chase down things that don't matter or try to please folk that don't care anyway! Get focused and ask God to deliver you from being distracted! Let's pray! Let's consume God's Word! Let's win the lost! Let's be our brother's keeper!

David Lamb