by Pastor Mark Chin
As long as I can remember, I’ve always struggled with distractions and losing sight of key priorities. It’s an issue that would come up repeatedly at parent teacher sessions – especially at the Christian school I attended for elementary and middle school. Had I grown up in the 90’s, I probably would have been diagnosed with ADHD and I would have been a prime candidate for Ritalin or Adderall. I recall one concerned Christian teacher inquiring about the sugar content of my breakfasts (drugs and stimulants aren’t the only substances that we look to for answers). Looking back, I can say it worked in my favor that there were fewer choices, whether it be entertainment, diagnoses, or medication, for an easily distracted and hyperactive child growing up in the late 60’s and early 70’s (I was born in ’67 – which means by Lighthouse standards, I am prehistoric for most of your experiences).
Time, however, never stands still. And now, as a husband, father, and pastor living in 2016, I have no shortage of choices and distractions to battle, not just for me but for my family and the church as well. Keeping first things first and not losing sight of key priorities are mighty and exhausting battles that must be fought each day – battles where small losses have huge consequences not just for me, but for those I love dearly. One of the most insidious challenges in these battles is the distraction brought by an abundance of good choices and good things that press hard for a prime place of real estate in our hearts and minds. As a pastor, there is no shortage of good things or needs demanding my time and attention. Frequently, the discouragement is not having the time or capacity to address them all well. If Satan can keep me away from the best by keeping me distracted by the good, he’s winning. Not losing sight of key priorities is no easy task. It is something for which we finite and frail humans need an abundance of mercy and grace from the Lord. The good news, however, is that we have a God who is more than able and willing to give the mercy and grace we need and He does so through Christ and through His Word. His priorities are clear, even if ours frequently seem all mixed up.
Two portions of Scripture that I need to go back to repeatedly, especially when many good things are beginning to distract me from the most important things, are the Sermon on the Mount and 1 Timothy. I can never hear enough of Christ’s command to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, as well as His command to not worry about things God has already taken care of for me. And as I consider the challenges of Timothy’s ministry, I see that the Lord makes clear through the Apostle Paul many of the Trojan horse distractions that wage war on our feeble pastoral attempts to honor Christ’s commands. They include distractions we are to avoid like the endless discussions or debates about secondary or speculative concerns, the demands of those without genuine needs, or worldly criticism of a spiritual ministry.
It is so helpful to hear Paul’s exhortations to Timothy, who probably felt like he was breaking under the pressure of a besieged ministry and was likely suffering from stress-induced stomach ailments. For Paul, like his Lord and Savior, the priorities of life and ministry are clear. The Gospel of our Lord and Savior – the Gospel that saved us – is to be the first priority of God’s servant even as it is God’s primary provision for every aspect of our lives. Clearly, the primary threat to believers and the body of Christ is anything that distracts from the Gospel, especially those within the church who teach and live a different doctrine from the Gospel of our Lord and Savior. In the face of such opposition and distraction, Paul, in 1 Timothy 2, exhorts Timothy and the men of the church to make the practice of prayer a top priority. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, … I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling …” (1 Tim 2:1-8).
The need for prayer to be a first priority and practice in our lives should come as no surprise. If prayer is a humble dependency upon the will and Word of God, it is the natural expression and beat of a heart that has been transformed by the Good News of Christ. If sin is our primary problem and God’s desire is that all people, including our leaders, might be saved from sin and come to the knowledge of the truth, it should be obvious to us that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for all people as a primary and prevailing practice among the people of God. If there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, then to Him we must go first in the pursuit of all our needs, most especially the need to be bold for the proclamation of the Gospel and the need for salvation from sin. If men were created and redeemed to glorify God through leading their families, their churches, and their world to Christ, then it should be no surprise that men have been created and redeemed to lead the way in prayer. What is God’s remedy for a distracted life? It’s the sound doctrine of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that drives us to our knees in prayer, to receive as first importance the mercy and grace we, and the world, so desperately need. May His priorities be our primary provision to live for Him.