Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 9:62

We’ve all seen them and have probably been affected by them, and we may have been one of them—distracted drivers! The symptoms are easily noticed: inconsistent speed, delayed starts at green lights, erratic driving and more. Distracted drivers have been known to cause a lot of property damage, serious injury and even death. One of the most common distractions of drivers today is the cell phone, although there are many others—reaching back to take care of the baby or to break up a fight between kids, putting on makeup, or using an electric shaver on the way to work. All of these things can cause us to lose focus. When a driver is distracted, it is always the fault of the one who is distracted, not what is causing the distraction. We cannot blame the cell phone or the person who may have texted us. It is we who lost focus, not the wasp buzzing against the window.

There are a couple of O.T. Bible characters who faced distractions, and Scripture tells us how they dealt with it. When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, the Bible tells us that Joseph “left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house” (Gen. 39:12). He overcame a temptation that would have caused almost any man to become distracted. But he stayed focused. On the flip side of the coin, we know what David did when he saw Bathsheba washing herself on the roof. “David sent someone to find out about her” (2 Sam. 11:3). Using the above illustration, we could say that David wrecked his vehicle because he lost focus.

How is our spiritual driving doing? Are we focused or distracted? We need to remember that we can never blame the distraction. It is us. Staying focused is absolutely essential to our spiritual warfare. Satan is always going to try to distract us. Don’t let it happen. In the verse above, Jesus says that if we look back and allow ourselves to get distracted, we are not fit for service in the kingdom of God. God won’t be able to use us. Let’s keep our eyes on the goal and our hands on His work.