devious distractions

Let your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

Proverbs 4:25

Pay clear and focused attention to the wisdom God gives in His Word. Why is this direction given here in Proverbs? Because so many things in the world, both the outright wicked things, and the more devious diversions, can so quickly put us on the wrong path. We have broken, sin-bent hearts that are easily deceived and bent to doing what they desire, which is by nature sinful. Read Jeremiah 17:5-10 for God’s masterful primer on the dangerous default settings we are all born with and must work against carefully. Suffice it to say the common phrase today of “trust your heart” is not only very bad advice… it is a recipe for personal disaster. You have to instead set your attention to the path of God’s wisdom and anchor every step firmly forward in the direction wisdom leads.

There are a lot of diversions and distractions, many running parallel to that path. Even more so these days where self-driven opinions abound both in traditional media and in the nauseating echo chamber of social media. (By the way, the irony of me blogging this and posting it to a social media platform is not lost on me). We must only pay attention to the voices we hear clearly proclaiming the unedited, untwisted, un”spun”, crystal clear Word of God.

I believe many Christians are dangerously low on discernment these days precisely because they have trusted the voices of human beings rather than the Word of God. This is because the church is guilty of sinfully creating a “Christian” sub-culture that is more culture than Christian. A cult of celebrity personality, marketed curriculum, and apish sub-culture that is just worldliness wearing a cross on a gold chain has taken over much of the Christian world in the West. The gospel is often supplanted with emotionalism, politicalism, guru-ism, and materialism wrapped in a thin veneer of Pharisaical moralism. I’ve seen this develop over four and a half decades and it breaks my heart, even as tentacles of it still can wrap themselves around my heart.

O Lord,

Call us to the shining truth of You and Your Word’s wisdom. Revive our hearts as we gaze directly forward at You. Purge any idolatry from us so our gaze is straight on the path of wisdom that has us look ONLY upon You, Lord Jesus!

Amen