Why I need to stop feeding distractions and start fixing my eyes on Christ
I haven’t been in the Word for a while now. Every time I sit down to read, I get distracted by whatever is troubling my mind at that moment. Then the squirrels come out into the field to feed on my lack of attention. Before long, every hope of devotion is scattered to the four winds by those wonderful fluffy tails frolicking in the backyard of my brain.
“The squirrels only come when I put out the nuts — focus on Christ, and the yard grows quiet.”
The truth is, I’m the one feeding them. When I dwell on what I think I deserve or on what I feel I’m missing, I’m putting out the nuts that call the squirrels into my mind. And so I have to ask myself: why am I putting out the nuts?
Philippians 2:5-6 reminds me,
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped…”
Jesus had every right to claim privilege, yet He laid it down to serve. He humbled Himself for me. And if I am to follow Him, then I need to stop clinging to my own rights and expectations, and start looking outward in love.
That’s where this touches my marriage too. When I’m focused on what I think I deserve from my wife — attention, affirmation, or having my needs met first — I’m putting out nuts for distraction and disappointment. But when I turn that energy toward loving her the way Philippians 2:4 calls me to —
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
— then my perspective changes. I stop feeding the squirrels of self-focus, and instead begin to grow in Christlike service.
“Feeding the squirrels feeds my self; fixing my eyes on Christ feeds my soul. (And thanks, Mike, for the bag of nuts.)”
What I “deserve” isn’t even the point. In fact, what I truly deserve is death and separation from God. But Jesus paid that debt so I don’t have to. When I remember that, I can love my wife not because of what I get in return, but because of what Christ has already given me.
So the question comes back again: why am I putting out the nuts? Why am I feeding distraction, entitlement, or self-interest when Christ has already set me free from them?
My prayer is that I would stop putting out the nuts — stop feeding the squirrels — and instead fix my eyes on Christ. Only then will my mind be clear enough to hear Him, and serve others — especially my wife — with the humility of Christ.