SDA Youth Q&A

How do you keep your eyes single to the glory of God when the world is full of distractions?

Adriana Carper 

No matter how impossible it seems, it is possible to keep your eyes single to the glory of God amid this world’s distractions! Think of it in the light of a simple plant like the sunflower. No matter what time of day, or where the sun is, the sunflower always has its face turned up toward the sun. There are plenty of other distractions for the sunflower, birds coming to eat it’s seeds, other things happening in the garden that it could focus on. But instead, it tunes all those things out, and faces the sun. It’s the same with us. If we will simply behold Jesus, and tune out the other things of the world, we can keep our attention solely to the glory of God!

Caleb Tam

Jesus did it!  Our entire salvation rested upon Him.  Satan’s primary goal was to cause Him to sin.  Had He fallen--had he but once turned His eyes away from His mission to the things of this world--we would have no hope at eternal life.  Every temptation that we could ever be tempted with, He overcame.  How did Christ accomplish this perfection?  How was He able to so effectively block out this world’s distractions?  He was in tune with His Father.  Having surrendered His life to His Father,  He was living out His will, rather than His own.  We have this privilege as well.  If we surrender ourselves to Him, and keep our eyes fixed on our heavenly goal, there is nothing in this world that can distract us from Him.

Ashley Angeles 

Keeping focused on God always amidst all the distractions can be tough. Our world is full of sin, and with that comes distractions. But, by keeping a relationship with God, He will help us to keep our mind on Him, and away from the distracting things of this world. We can’t do it without Him, but we certainly can play our part in staying away from them. Just focus on Jesus, and keep the distracting things away from you the best you can. It’ll be hard, but Jesus will help you through it! Just keep your mind focused on godly things, and that will help you not to get distracted by worldly things. Stay focused on Jesus, and He will be your guide.

Lilienne Stafford 

Prayer and Bible Study.  I know you have heard that over and over and over again till you might be sick and tired of hearing it.  But, really, it works!   Take your struggles to God and claim His promises in prayer.  You will leave your prayer session empowered to overcome.   Think of something that you struggle with and see what the Bible says about it.  Really search for the answers--you will be surprised what the Bible has to say!  These things are sometimes the only things that will take your mind off the distractions that are haranguing your mind. 

Ethan Carpenter

“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 KJV

For me it's simply staying connected. Prayer and Bible study are how I connect. The why I spend my time greatly affects how I connect. If I fill my time with useful endeavors, I find it much easier to stay connected. If I spend my time unwisely with foolish endeavors, I find it much harder to keep focused.

Thomas Mayhew 

Faithfully following God’s will is what will ultimately help us to keep our eyes single to the glory of God. You may ask yourself, “How can I know what God’s will is?” That’s a broad topic, but the general guidelines to think by might run something like this:

·         Would Jesus be doing this right now? What would He be doing right now?

·         Would the Bible encourage such an activity or preoccupation?

·         What are my motives behind my pursuits? Am I focused on winning souls to the kingdom of God, or is my focus my own comfort and happiness?

Of course, daily Bible study and prayer are two key ways to keep ourselves connected with God and His will. In fact, taking time every few hours to stop whatever we are doing to meditate on the precepts of the Bible and its commands is a great way to maintain a constant connection to God and His will! My prayer is that both you, dear reader, and I, may aim to make this our goal. May God richly bless you!

Hannah Evert 

Put the distractions away! Sometimes I place myself in the path of temptation. If I hang out with ungodly friends, I'm automatically making a way for Satan to tempt me. Keeping my phone near me while I do school, makes an easy way for Satan to tempt me. In order to keep my eyes on God and away from the world, I need to get rid of every earthly distraction I can. That doesn't necessarily mean living the life of a hermit, alone in a cave for the rest of my life, but it may mean giving up worldly friends or shoving my phone in the closet. What's your distraction? Is God calling you to give it up for Him? It's worth it!

Sean Nebblett 

I dare say no challenge we face is greater than that of keeping our eye on the prize in the midst of distraction. Glory is so compelling, yet we experience so little of the transformation it is supposed to work in the life. Maybe in the hailstorm of good, we’re missing what’s actually important. On a practical level, I find it helpful to work to curb the level of access that even “useful” distractions have to me during the day. This might mean turning off push notifications for apps that shouldn’t be dominating my day (I can go check them at a set time) or my current experiment, which basically entails limiting smartphone use to daylight hours, avoiding screen time when it’s dark. Ultimately, little rules won’t make love for Jesus burn brighter, but they might clear the way for His love to do what it does best.