Jesus is the way.

I was in church and the sermon was about distraction. Well actually, the sermon was about dreams… Embracing and running with the dreams God has placed in our hearts because he wants to use us to fulfill his purpose is in the world. My dream, your dream, are like the seeds of a tree planted in the ground. We have the capacity to grow our dreams or hinder them… And eventually we could be a towering tree bearing much fruit, fulfilling the dreams God has placed within us.

But we have to overcome many challenges. And in our day one of the biggest challenges is distraction. We have the combined knowledge of humanity at our fingertips and in our pockets. That’s a lot of stuff by which we could get distracted. We have unceasing images and 24/7 news. And that is just what’s coming at us. What about the distractions within us?

I knew God was telling me to cut back on social media, TV, and other things that were pulling for my attention. If I add it together, if I eliminated some of these distractions, I would add hours to my day. And I could work on developing the dreams I have been turning around in my heart the last many years. 

I prayed, “Jesus, I don’t want to be distracted. But how? How do I overcome the distraction? How? Show me the way.” And immediately he said to me, “I am the way.” He brought to mind the verse that is so familiar to me. “Jesus is the way the truth and the life.” Jesus is the way. Jesus is the way out of distraction. He himself is the way.

Much has been said about the idea of a positive thing driving out a negative thing. There is a book by an old Scottish Minister named Thomas Chalmers. The title is The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.  Dr. Chalmers states, “It is seldom that any of our tastes are made to disappear by a mere process of natural extinction… The heart must have something to cling to.” Similarly, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declares that it is light which drives out darkeness. Love drives out hate. Darkness, hate, apathy, fear, and distraction are powers. A greater power must drive them out.

Affection is a part of human nature. There is a reorienting power, a clarifying and cleansing power, when something is loved and pursued. Our affections usually trump our duties. It is hard to overstate how we live out of love the most. Solomon said it best: love is as strong as death. What am I giving my heart to? What power am I allowing to guide me? What thing do I love, or what is it that seems to promise life to me that I find myself constantly pursuing? Does does this thing come through for me and give me life? 

The gravity of love pulls with a cosmic force. Imagine Jesus is the center. He is the sun around whom we orbit. The gravitational pull that keeps us in orbit is HIS love. 

How do I get out of my distracted cycle? Jesus! I turn my face to him. I let the strength of His love overpower my affections. I live in his kingdom. I ask myself, “Is this distraction really worth my attention and time compared to my Jesus? … Compared to pursuing the dream his placed in my heart? … Compared to all he offers me in himself… Forever?” Now my distractions seem vain and empty. Jesus is the way out. Jesus is the way. I ended up in another situation two weeks later where I was again being called to do things that seemed hard for me. I was challenged to rise up, take off my chains of bondage, shake off my dust, wake up, sit enthroned as a queen in God’s kingdom, and stand. Sometimes I look at the task before me, and I feel exhausted. I know my own strength. All of my aspirations sound really good, but I can only sustain success for maybe an hour or less before something rattles me, shakes me, or challenges me. I found myself saying the exact same thing to God: “God, I want this. I want this for myself because this is what you are calling me to be and do.” The answer is never “try harder” in the kingdom of God. I have lived long enough with Jesus to know that is a lie from the enemy. Yet he calls us to action. How? How can I sustain? The truth is I can’t. “How do I do this? Show me the way.” And he reminded me immediately, “Jesus is the way.”

I don’t have it all figured out. What I do know is that I want to turn my face toward him whenever I need a way out. Actually, I want to turn my whole self toward him. And then I want to start walking because in this way—his way—I find his truth. I find life.