{"id":438,"date":"2026-08-30T13:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/?p=438"},"modified":"2026-08-30T13:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T13:45:19","slug":"distractions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/30\/distractions\/","title":{"rendered":"Distractions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Though both sisters loved the Lord, Mary and Martha were remarkably different. \u201cMary . . . sat at Jesus\u2019 feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving . . .\u201d<\/em> (Luke 10:39, 40). Can\u2019t you just see Martha scurrying about preparing food and attending to all the other duties of a proper hostess? Meanwhile, Mary sits in rapt attention at Jesus\u2019 feet, engrossed with His every word.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Luke\u2019s word, distracted, means drawn away. Martha\u2019s attention was drawn away from Jesus and His teaching by the many things she felt compelled to do. So absorbed was she with her serving that she became irked at Mary for not helping her, and even scolded Jesus for tolerating Mary\u2019s behavior (v. 40).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus gently replied, \u201cMartha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things\u201d<\/em> (v. 41). In his \u201cWord Studies in the New Testament,\u201d Marvin R. Vincent says that \u201cworried\u201d expresses Martha\u2019s inner uneasiness, while \u201ctroubled\u201d emphasizes the outer confusion and bustle which characterized her. Jesus continued: \u201cBut one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her\u201d<\/em> (v. 42). The opposite of being distracted, then, is to be calm and focused, like Mary was.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In our fast-paced, impatient, hurry-up world, maintaining a calm focus on the Lord is difficult indeed! All sorts of things distract us. Many are good things: employment, recreation, education, and civic concerns, to name a few. Faithful Christians can and should be involved in such matters; but we must now allow any of them to distract us from the Lord. Not even the basic necessities of life are to become worrisome: \u201cTherefore do not worry, saying, \u2018What shall we eat?\u2019 or \u2018What shall we drink?\u2019 or \u2018What shall we wear?\u2019 . . . But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 6:31, 33).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let us maintain our focus on the Lord. Let nothing distract us!<\/span><\/p>\n

–Joe Slater<\/span><\/p>\n

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\r \t\t\r \t\t\"\"<\/a>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\tSend article as PDF<\/span>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\t\r \t\t\r \t<\/form>\r <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you\u201d (Matthew 6:33, NKJV). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Though both sisters loved the Lord, Mary and Martha were remarkably different. \u201cMary . . . sat at Jesus\u2019 feet and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading… Distractions<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438\/revisions\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}