Multitasking Jesus

Surely you’ve been there, sitting on the passenger side, riding with someone who keeps looking at you when he talks. He keeps making eye contact with you instead of watching the lines on the road, the oncoming traffic, the signal lights, and the pedestrians crossing in front of him.

You force your eyes back to the road ahead, hoping he’ll catch on, but he doesn’t.

What’s the problem? You like eye contact don’t you? You want the other person to see you, to feel what you feel, to understand, don’t you? Well, yes, but at the moment a person has your life in his hands, the most important thing he can give you is the assurance that he is NOT looking at you, but is paying attention to the task at hand.

Our concerns about the driver’s inattention are not unfounded. In fact, we are told that most auto accidents occur because of distractions. Such as. . .

Rubbernecking (straining to see an accident, for example) (16 percent)
Fatigue (12 percent)
Watching scenery (10 percent)
Looking at other passengers (9 percent)
Adjusting sound equipment (7 percent)
Cell phone fiddling (5 percent).

As popular as multitasking may be, when other matters capture our attention, the results can be disastrous and deadly. And isn’t that what the Scripture warns us about as well? For example:

Fix your eyes on Jesus, not the possible sins. Hebrews 13:1, 2
Forget the past, press on in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13, 14
Discipline your body; run the spiritual race to win. 1 Cor. 9:24-27
Don’t allow lusts to draw you away from God into sin. James 1:13-15
The thing most worth desiring is to dwell with God. Psalm 27:4
Choose devotion to Christ over work for Christ. Luke 10:42
Guard your heart, keep your eyes straight ahead. Proverbs 4:23-27

God does not want our work as much as our watchfulness, and far more than our performance, He desires our passion. He has drawn us into a relationship. Have you allowed someone or something to distract you from Him?

“And she had a sister called Mary,
who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
But Martha was distracted with much serving. . .”
Luke 10:39, 40


Leave a Reply