Removing Distractions
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
If you've ever been to The Masters golf tournament, or even just watched the coverage, you might have heard something surprising: spectators or patrons, as they're called, aren't allowed to use their phones on the course. No texts, no selfies, no checking scores, no photos. Just you, the players, the course, and the game.
At first, it sounds inconvenient. But talk to anyone who's been, and they'll tell you: it's part of the beauty. The silence, the focus, the intentionality — they say it changes the whole atmosphere. It's quieter. More reverent. You actually watch the game with your eyes directly instead of through the middleman of your phone. You engage with the people around you. You experience it in full.
It makes you think: what could change in our own lives if we chose to leave the distractions behind — especially when it comes to God?
Whether we're in church, volunteering in ministry, spending time with family, or even having a quiet moment with the Lord, our phones can constantly pull our minds away. All it takes is a quick glance at a notification, a scroll through social media, an email that we really believe can't wait and just like that, the moment, and our focus, is gone because we got distracted by our phones.
But when we put those things aside, even just for a while, something sacred can happen. We start to notice. We listen better. We open our hearts wider. We hear God more clearly.
Looking At Mary and Martha
Consider the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38–42.
We are told that Martha was distracted. Not on a phone, but with serving. Let's consider that for a minute. If there is anything I would consider a good distraction, it would be serving others, but it was still a distraction that got between Martha and worshipping Jesus. On the other hand, while Martha was distracted by serving and the fact that Mary wasn't helping her, Mary had it right. Sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to Him. And it was Mary that Jesus wanted Martha to be like. Luke 10:41-42:
But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her."
Martha wasn't doing anything *bad*. She was busy, trying to serve, trying to make things right. But she was distracted — and in her distraction, she missed what Mary chose: to simply be with Jesus, undistracted, focused, present.
There's power in giving our full attention. There's blessing to be found in being still.
Changing The Way We Approach God
What if we let these truths transform the way we approach God? What if we, like the patrons at Augusta, got into the practice of leaving our phones turned off and instead gave our 100% focus to God and to the people we are ministering to? What if we refused the temptation to stay on the treadmill of busyness that our whole world seems to be running on, and instead, step off and be still before God? What if we did whatever it takes to give God the attention He deserves?
Because He does deserve our attention, our stillness, and our focus. Closing off with a quote on distractions from author John Ortberg. He wrote:
"For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them."
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