Distractions – Jennifer Woodley

‘When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.’ Luke 9:51 (NRSV)

Jesus had a task to do – a mission, if you like, to fulfill and nothing or no-one was going to deter Him from doing this. Not everyone was pleased with Jesus’ course of action. In fact, an entire village rejected Him because they had different plans for Jesus. Our Savior would not, however, be persuaded away from what His Father had asked Him to do.

There will always be people in our lives, competing for our attention and time. And then there is always God’s purposes. The two often clash, as Jesus well knew. Even His own disciples, James and John, had a different course of action to Jesus. When the Samaritan village rejected their Lord, these two disciples asked if fire could be called down from Heaven to consume the entire village! But Jesus rebuked them instead (Luke 9:55).

Distractions that direct us off course can sometimes be subtle. Who or what might be drawing us away from what God has called us to do right now? What is a hindrance in our lives? What is not working? Keep these questions in mind as we faithfully set our face this day to do His work.

‘Heavenly Father, please help me to be faithful to what you have asked me to do. Show me who or what is drawing my attention away from you and give me the wisdom and courage to say ‘no’ to whatever or whoever is distracting me right now. Thank you.’

Jennifer is an Australian freelance writer who enjoys encouraging others on their Christian faith journey through writing and mentoring. Contact