Have you ever noticed that the more you dwell on a particular thing the more intense your awareness of it becomes?

I remember as a kid that if I hurt myself and I was bleeding that the more I focused on the bleeding and played the incident back through my mind the worse the situation became.  My shock and initial yelp would evolve into a torrent of tears, sobbing and moans as though I might be dying.

Naturally I was in no danger of losing my life, just a thimble of blood and some play time were all that were at stake.  But my dwelling on it often resulted in a loss of much more time than it should have.  Amazingly, we can choose how we will frame any particular incident in life.  The more dramatic we make it, the more time and energy it will claim by making it more difficult to overcome.

I had a coach who greatly helped me with accidents and pain.  He taught me how to focus on something else so I could take my mind off what was happening and get through it much quicker.  I am forever grateful to that man.  He didn’t ask me to pretend it never happened, he just wanted me to not allow it to become more than it really was.

Now this correlates to our spiritual well being and progress.  You see when we experience set backs, problems, or painful disappointments we can choose to play it back over and over again allowing it to grow larger, or we can focus our attention on the One who can help us.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Looking unto Jesus!  I love that phrase in the letter to the Hebrews in the Bible.

A group of people were experiencing strong temptations, persecutions and threats of setbacks.  They were being tempted to go backward, not forward.  But they were encouraged to let themselves get distracted by looking at Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of their faith.  There is something powerful about setting our gaze and thoughts on Jesus.  It makes everything happening seem small by comparison and the temptations seem silly to us when we see His beauty before us.

Isn’t that what we all need in chaotic, painful and confusing times?  I encourage you today to take a good long look at Jesus and see if it doesn’t have the power to ease the pain clear the confusion and release some joy in your soul.  Such is the Benefit of Distraction when you are distracted by Him.