The world is filled with distractions. Many of them are quite obviously bad for us — like gossip, greed, lust, envy or too much TV. And while those are dangerous, they’re also the easy ones to spot. The most dangerous things in life, however, are actually the good things.
Advancing in your career. Knowing lots of stuff. Perfecting that golf swing. Attaining the perfect GPA. Getting life managed. Finding the right girlfriend or boyfriend. Owning your dream home. Living a certain lifestyle. Developing whatever routine. Building healthy habits. Even helping others.
All of these are good things. And because they are so good, it’s easy to justify letting them consume us. After all, they’re good! And can you really do too much good?
Well, yes you can, if the good distracts you from why you’re here. When all those good things become the end goal in themselves, rather than simply a means to our ultimate end, they become bad. They become only busy-ness.
Red-light sins are easy to fall in to, but hard to worship. It’s the good pursuit that ends up as the golden calf.
All of our good pursuits must always serve our greater purpose. After all, fulfilling our greater purpose will echo louder than any applauding stadium and longer than any retirement plan. But do we take the time to discern what, of the many, goods to pursue?
Somehow we easily busy ourselves with advancing all of these other good passions, yet we can’t find a few moments each day to pray (so we know where those passions fit in). We ask endless questions, seek every answer and make huge sacrifices when it comes to these other good passions. Yet what sacrifices of our time and energy are we making each day to ask, ponder and answer the most basic of human questions? Questions like, “why am I here?” “What is my purpose?” “What happens when this is over?” “And why isn’t every little thing in my life centered around these answers?”
You get one try at life here. That’s it. And it’s short.
So make sure the many good and beautiful things of this life are helping you answer the more fundamental questions, not distracting you from them.
