“Misdirection” by Pastor Nate

I love magic tricks. As a kid, I loved the wonder of them and how the seemingly miraculous could happen right before my eyes and as I’ve gotten older I’ve loved learning the clever secrets that make the illusions possible.

Most of any magic trick is just misdirection. The person performing the trick tries to pull your attention elsewhere while they make the “magic” happen without you realizing it.  The misdirection is what fools you.

I think it’s the same with our life of faith as well.  Some slight, or some struggle or some annoyance comes along and we start to think that it’s the end of the world.  We get so caught up in resenting the person who slighted us, complaining about the struggle facing us, or avoiding the task that annoys us and we think that our resentment or complaints or avoidance will somehow to make things better but it never does.  We’re just misdirected and caught up in focusing on the entirely wrong things.

Our faith tells us that we are called to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Or the way I like to say it is that we are called to know that God loves us and to show that love to others.  Anything else is just misdirection.  It’s the forces of evil pulling us away from what actually matters.

Look at your life today.  Have you been misdirected?  Are you holding a grudge or caught up in some drama that doesn’t have anything to do with loving God or loving your neighbor?  These are the things that God invites us to let go of.  There’s so much in this world that can grab our attention, but a lot of it is just misdirection.  Certainly, we sometimes have to deal with the minor annoyances of our life, but we don’t have to be consumed by them.

Following Jesus is an invitation to let go of all the misdirection and distractions that so often overwhelm us and to instead simply know love and show love.