During a recent prayer meeting at church, I overheard one of the members stating how difficult life is these days. They suggested that it is much harder for Christians today because of all of the distractions the world offers. It got me thinking: Is this really true? Do we really have more distractions today than others throughout history? Are these distractions the greatest obstacle modern Christians face today? Or is there a bigger problem?

Distractions have existed ever since the beginning. While the things that might distract are different, our ability to be distracted remains the same. We don’t even have to go past the Garden of Eden to find distractions. The serpent distracted Eve with deception, flattery and doubts. But the distractions didn’t end there.

The Children of Israel were easily distracted by the gods of the Canaanites. King David was distracted by a bathing beauty. Nebuchadnezzar was distracted by his success. Jonah was distracted by his hate for a group of people. The Pharisees were distracted by their laws. I think you get the point: people of God, throughout the Scriptures, have regularly faced distractions.

However, a very powerful story about distraction is found in Matthew 14:22–32. It takes place just after Jesus fed the 5,000. He had instructed His disciples to go across the Sea of Galilee in their boat ahead of Him. Later that evening, when the boat was pretty far off shore, Jesus came out to them.

Now, the disciples were already on edge due to the strong winds and waves they had been fighting, so they were not prepared for what they were about to see: Jesus, walking on water. They did not recognize Him (walking on water is not a common occurrence) and were terrified, thinking they were seeing a ghost.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m not sure of what I’m seeing, or if what I’m seeing is scary, my eyes are glued to it. Of course, I know there are people who will stare at a wall, afraid to move their eyes lest that tiny spider disappear (and suddenly appear on them)! In such moments, we will allow very little to distract us. It would have to be something major to make us take our eyes away. Likewise, I believe that, at that moment, the eyes of every disciple were glued on Jesus.

Jesus assured them that it was Him, and that they did not need to be afraid. While this may have calmed their fears some, I think Jesus had their undivided attention even more! In typical fashion, Peter spoke before thinking (I can’t imagine he thought his response through), “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come out on the water with you.” To which Jesus replied, “Come.”

It is amazing to me that Peter did not hesitate. He got out of the boat and walked on the water. We don’t know how far out Jesus was, but verse 29 says that Peter came to Jesus. He walked all the way to Him, but when he got to Jesus something happened. Verse 30 says that Peter saw the strong wind, became afraid, and started to sink. He became distracted. The interesting thing, though, is that the thing that distracted him had been occurring for a while—the winds were battering him throughout the evening, and were gusting throughout his walk to Jesus. So why would they distract him when he got to Jesus?

Peter wasn’t distracted because there was too much wind, he was distracted because he took his eyes off Jesus. As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus he didn’t notice the wind. Sadly, according to the story, he took his eyes off Jesus when he got to Jesus. Did he become too confident, or maybe too comfortable? It can be easy for us to be distracted when we feel comfortable (or lukewarm—like Laodicea). Regardless, he only noticed the wind when he was standing next to Jesus because he wasn’t looking at Jesus.

You see, there are many distractions these days—there always has been and always will be—but they are not any worse than at any other time in history. We cannot blame them for our struggles. Because, when we are completely focused on something, it has our undivided attention. Which means, distractions are not our biggest problem, our lack of focus is. Maybe we think there are so many distractions today because our focus is no longer on Jesus. It doesn’t matter what took our focus away—deception, beauty, success, hate, self-righteousness, or even comfort—if we do not fix our eyes on Jesus, even the smallest thing will distract us. Therefore, as the beautiful hymn says,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”