Our lives are busy, distracted, and noisy. As long as this is the case, we will never experience what God intends for our lives to be. We will never experience what it is to be close to Him. To come to the full knowledge of God, our lives must revolve around nothing other than Him (Matthew 6:33). It is no small blessing that nothing on earth compares to the glory and majesty of Jesus because that means we can set our affections on the One more valuable and magnificent than any other (Colossians 3:1–2)!
If only we lived as if we believed this were true. Instead, we fill our minds with indecency, our ears with heresy, and our lives with irrelevancy (Philippians 4:8; 2 Timothy 4:3–4). We can not conceive of how much better our lives would be if we eschewed the fallen things of this world and lived lives devoted to the Savior of our souls.
In a busy, distracted, and noisy world, it’s going to take intentionality to go against the flow of cultural and societal norms. There is no end to the tempting pleasures and interruptions of this life. Unless we are diligent in putting God first, He will always come in last. If Jesus isn’t first in your life, then He doesn’t matter to you at all (Revelation 3:15–16). You can’t have a Lord that you ignore. That’s a contradiction in terms. You will serve Jesus, or you will serve the selfish desires of your heart; that’s just a nice way of saying you will serve Satan (Matthew 6:24; Romans 6:16). You cannot have it both ways (1 John 2:15–17).
We are too often too busy to study God’s Word. Do you recognize the lunacy in that? We are too busy for the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, Creator of the Universe because we’d rather go out with friends or binge-watch a favorite show and zone out for a while. While it’s fashionable to be “busy,” the reality is we are allowing trivial nonessentials to crowd out the eternal King of glory (Luke 10:40–42). We are too busy not because of how important we are but because of how unimportant God is to us (Psalm 46:10; Isaiah 55:6).
Satan loves to distract us from our mission and uses everything at his disposal to accomplish this (2 Corinthians 11:3). We are a people who love to chase shiny objects and squirrels, never satisfied with what we have, and ever seeking something new (Ecclesiastes 1:8–9; Acts 17:21). Nothing new is better than the One so ancient that He predates time itself (John 1:1–3; Hebrews 13:8). Keep your eyes on the eternal, not the temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18; Colossians 3:2). Don’t live a short-sighted and distracted life.
Then there is the noise in our lives. When was the last time you sat in silence with God? When was the last time you heeded His command to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10)? Noise inhibits our ability to focus and pray. Shut it out and shut it down. Satan wants to flood your communication channels to keep you from resting in God’s presence. It will drive you crazy if you let it. Find a quiet place — any place! — to sit with God in silence for a while. He promises you rest (Matthew 11:28–29). Why not take Him up on it?
Is your life busy, distracted, and noisy? It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, it shouldn’t be this way. These are the tactics of Satan to keep us from knowing God and growing in the Lord (Mark 4:18–19). Simplify your life by getting rid of everything that is not of God (Hebrews 12:1-2). Resist the distractions by keeping your eyes on your eternal home rather than on what’s going on down here. And silence the noise around you by spending quiet time in His Word, in prayer, and in worship of our Holy God. Don’t let your life be busy, distracted, and noisy. Live for the One who matters, the One who gave His life for yours, and the One who is preparing a place for you to spend eternity with Him (John 14:2–3). Live for Jesus.