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Luke 9:⁵¹ “When it came close to the time for his Ascension, he gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.” [MSG, with emphasis]

Jesus was susceptible to distractions. A lot of people do not want to think of Jesus this way, but the truth is, He actually was. The way Jesus treated distractions is very instructive to us. Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind me.” In other words, ‘you are a distraction to Me, Peter’. This is the same Peter that was His best pal, but Jesus will not tolerate distractions. He dealt with the spirit behind the statement Peter made. What Jesus said in essence was, you are an adversary. Adversary is the same word as satan, get thee behind me.

Luke 9:⁵¹ “As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” [with emphasis]. Jesus was focused, no distractions. There probably were sick people by the road begging Jesus to heal them but Jesus did not stop to heal them. Maybe there were people begging Him to come and dine with them, Jesus did not stop in anyone’s house. Jesus was focused. The Message version of the Bible puts it this way, “…he gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.” You need both courage and focus [no distraction]; get rid of distractions.

For the next few days, we will devout time to examining the seven types of distractions that we should beware of. No one can fulfill destiny without focus. If you are going to fulfill your destiny, you have to get rid of distractions. Distractions are so serious that you cannot afford to toy with them. The only way to deal with distractions is to be brutal and Jesus shows us that. You have to be brutal. The story is told about a young king and an old king. The young king challenged the old king to battle. The old king did not want to fight him and so he proposed friendship instead. But the young king insisted that they go to war, so they went to war.

The old king won and took the young king captive. He would set the young king free on one condition. The young king had to carry a spoon of water from one end of town to the other without a drop falling to the ground, at the risk of losing his head. His route through town was lined with naysayers on one side abusing him and praise singers on the other side, hailing him. The old king had a guard monitor him with a machete drawn. The young king was successful, and the old king asked him, “which of the two helped you, the naysayers or the praise singers?” His response was, “I did not even see or hear anyone.” The lesson is, your destiny is in your hands, do not let it drop. Focus on it and not on the critics or the praise singers.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me spot and deal brutally with distractions, in Jesus Name. Amen!