We Can't Afford Distractions!

A couple of weeks ago I was in a bad car accident. I ran off the pavement, over corrected and crashed into a ditch/embankment and ended up in a field. When I look at the totaled car, I think of how it could have been much worse for me. I was not badly hurt but I have an new respect for remaining focused. I wasn't speeding but my brain was! I imagine we all do that from time to time. We have a million things to do, we are doing one thing but we are thinking about the next 5 tasks, we start one thing and move to another without completing the first one. In the rush, rush, hurry up, "I need it yesterday" world, we can get caught up and loose our single focus. My accident taught me to slow my brain down and do one thing at a time. No more "superwoman" syndrome for me. I will be slower and more deliberate with my tasks and my choices. I will remain more focused on the task-at-hand and not be distracted by other future activities.
And while I was not seriously injured, I could not help but think about other things in life that distract us. Satan the devil is constantly trying to distract us from our service to Jehovah God. Satan has "shiny objects" that he places before us daily called commercialism. We are bombarded with TV ads, radio commercials and magazine ads that try to convince us we need their products to feel better about who we are, to look better for those around us or to send some sort of signal that we have "arrived" or "overcome". If we are not careful, we fall prey to the hype and before we know it, we are enslaved to debt and fear and sorrow. All this because we lost our focus. I am not even going to explore how Satan also uses religion, politics and nationalism to divide us and make us loose our focus. But know this, ANYTHING that takes our focus off of our service to God and his son Jesus, serves Satan's purpose. He doesn't have to turn us completely away from Jehovah and Jesus, he just wants to deviate our path. He want's to keep us a little "left of center". He wants us to take our eyes off the road ahead of us for just a little while. When we do that, we are setting ourselves up for disaster. Then, when we try to get back on the road, we may over correct and crash. The remedy is to not allow our eyes, our mind or our heart to loose focus. It is the only way to avoid disaster and gain the ultimate prize of everlasting life.