Mark 4:15 “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”
A beautiful house with a wraparound porch set on a mid-size lawn surrounded by woods. I was beyond excited for the opportunity to spend a week alone in this setting as a place to write, study and pray. Bring it on! “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!”
As I look out over the lawn, I notice something moving. Not a squirrel, chipmunk, deer or fox, as I might expect. This something looks unnatural. It IS unnatural! This moving unnatural something turns out to be a robotic lawnmower. Since this is a second home for the owner of the house, he bought the robot to keep his lawn in shape while away. It runs 24/7, returning to the battery station to get recharged when it starts to run out of juice.
It’s actually kind of weird to be sitting at my work table, only to look out the window and see the robot nonchalantly moving across the grass. In the front, in the back, in the morning, in the afternoon. I started calling the distraction my creepy little friend.
Distractions come in all shapes and sizes. But most prove to be harmless in and of themselves. It’s how much we allow them to detour us from our goal that determines their impact. One of the most harmful effects takes place when used by Satan to impede our walk with the Lord.
In The Screwtape Letters written by C.S. Lewis, a senior devil instructs a junior demon on the best way to keep his “client” from pursuing God. Right at the moment the man starts to think about spirituality and seems to be moving toward God, plant a thought in his mind like, “How about lunch.” As he goes to lunch, he quickly forgets about Godly issues.
So has something like that ever happened to you? Rather than tempting us with blatant wickedness, Satan uses distractions to move us to a different train of thought. Like those people Jesus described who hear the word, but lose it because Satan quickly snatches it away. Let’s not be in that crowd.
Let’s not give in to creepy little friends, lest they turn out to be creepy little fiends.