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Are you easily distracted?

Some people are good at focusing intently on one thing for a long time. Other people struggle to keep their attention from wavering. Still others might struggle with medically diagnosed attention disorders such as ADHD.

In the modern age of social media and short-form content, it’s easy to become accustomed to consuming information in smaller and smaller pieces. We can consume complete content in the form of a five-second TikTok video, receive the little dopamine reward that comes with something new, and immediately move on to the next one.

In turn, that can make it harder to focus when we turn our attention to things that require sustained concentration, such as watching a movie or reading a book. How often have you noticed a friend or loved one—or even yourself—picking up a phone ten minutes into a movie and scrolling through a feed while you “watch” the movie?

I know I’m guilty.

Many also find it hard to focus while sitting through a sermon or trying to pray in solitude. Our minds can wander so easily, distracted by thoughts of the afternoon meal or what the score might be in that game we’re missing.

Once, when I was in my early teens, my family had gone to a revival service in a nearby town. This being a decade and a half ago, I couldn’t tell you what the sermon was about even if I had been focused the whole time.

All I know is that when the service was over and we were walking out to the car, my mom looked at me and said, “I’m pretty sure you weren’t paying attention to the message.”

I was confused by what could have led her to that conclusion and asked what she meant.

She said that at one point during the sermon, I had lifted my arm high in the air, fist clenched, for no apparent reason.

I can’t imagine what I must have been thinking about that led me to do that, and even that very night I told her I genuinely did not remember doing it. Apparently, my mind had drifted so far into distraction that my body followed without my conscious awareness.

Our minds are prone to distraction, and it’s easy to be drawn away from things that are important toward things of much lesser value simply because they’re enticing.

As Jesus discussed His kingdom in Luke 17:20–37, He warned His followers not to be drawn away by things that seemed convincing but ultimately lacked substance.

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked Him when the kingdom of God would come. This may have been a mockery or trick question. If they had already determined that He was not the Messiah, perhaps they hoped the question would trip Him up.

After all, in their eyes, the Messiah would come as a reigning king, and every king needed a kingdom. If He was truly the Messiah, when would He set up that kingdom? If He hesitated or could not give a concrete answer, they might have used it as ammunition to prove He was illegitimate.

Jesus’ response was simple:

“The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say, ‘See here!’ or ‘There!’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:20–21)

A king might announce his arrival by marching into his newly occupied territory with banners and an army. There would be no denying that a new king was on the throne.

But the Pharisees, expecting something similar, had missed the reality standing right in front of them.

The King had already arrived.

He didn’t arrive with trumpets and fanfare. He arrived humbly and began gathering His kingdom from the perceived dregs of society—the nobodies and outcasts, the sinners and forgotten. The kingdom had come into their midst in the person of Jesus, and many of them didn’t notice.

It reminds me of a line from *How the Grinch Stole Christmas*: “What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?”

There was nothing glamorous or triumphant about the arrival of God’s kingdom in the way many expected, but it arrived anyway. Only those willing to recognize the King understood what was happening.

After that, Jesus spoke privately with His disciples. He said the day would come when they would desire to see the days of the Son of Man. In other words, He would not always be physically present with them, and they would long for the days when He had been.

He told them not to be tricked or distracted by those who would make false claims about the Son of Man, using spectacle to draw people into an illusion of Messianic power and fulfillment.

The disciples were not to be taken in by such deceptions.

Rather, they were to stay attentive because when Jesus actually returns, His coming will be unmistakable—like a flash of lightning that illuminates the sky.

In contrast to the humble arrival of His kingdom the first time, His return will be impossible to miss.

Still, before that day could come, He first had to suffer and be rejected, foreshadowing His imminent crucifixion.

Jesus went on to say that when His Day does come, it will be like the days of Noah or Lot.

People will be going about their everyday lives, not expecting anything to change. In Noah’s day, people ate, drank, married, and carried on with ordinary life until the flood came. In Lot’s day, they ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, and built until judgment suddenly arrived.

They were consumed with routine.

They were distracted.

And Jesus warned His followers, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

She looked back at the life she was supposed to leave behind, and it cost her everything.

Jesus then described two people together, with one taken and the other left. Two people would be working together, and one would be taken.

This passage is sometimes interpreted as a reference to believers being taken in the rapture. But the immediate context points strongly toward judgment. Jesus has just compared His return to the days of Noah and Lot, when those who were “taken” by the catastrophe were those experiencing judgment. When the disciples ask where they are taken, Jesus answers, “Where the corpse is, there also the vultures will be gathered” (Luke 17:37).

The picture is sobering.

Jesus’ point is not that His followers should spend their lives trying to calculate the date of His return.

His point is that they should be ready.

There are a few things for us to take from this.

First, the kingdom of God is here right now. We are not waiting for some future arrival before God begins His reign. The kingdom came into the world through Jesus Christ, and those who belong to Him are citizens and representatives of that kingdom.

God’s kingdom is not limited to heaven after we die.

As believers, we carry the message of our King into the world. We live in such a way that Christ is magnified before others, and we faithfully participate in the work He has given His church to do.

Secondly, there will be a future day when Christ returns.

We must be watchful.

Not in the sense that we mark our calendars trying to determine the day of His return. Rather, we watch through faithful activity. We serve our King while we wait for Him.

It is easy to become distracted by the ordinary routines of life. There will always be something demanding our attention—another notification, another game, another purchase, another appointment, another problem, another five-second video.

None of those things necessarily feels dangerous.

Neither did eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, or building.

The danger comes when ordinary things distract us from eternal ones.

We are stewards of a kingdom whose King has entrusted us with a mission.

He wants the world.

So don’t get distracted.

Stay faithful.

Stay focused.

And keep pointing people toward the King.

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