Undistracted: Capture Your Purpose. Rediscover Your Joy.

by Bob Goff

but the best way to make sure it’s Jesus talking is to read what He’s already said. God’s commands are usually not confusing.

We’ve only got two things to decide, really. First, how do these things God has said apply to me? And second, am I willing to do them?

Stalking Jesus is a little more difficult to spot because it seems like we are doing the right things when we’re actually doing little to nothing at all.

Doubt is a powerful invitation when you trust God is big enough to allow your disbelief.

Not all our beliefs are facts, and not all facts end up rising to the level of belief either.

Countless people have joined a club of like-minded others who behave in a certain way instead of actually finding, understanding, and believing what is true.

My question to you is this: If your faith is important to you, are you seeking a genuine expression of it or simply admittance to a club?

Doubt, done well, can lead to immense clarity and purpose.

Bring all your questions to Jesus. He can handle it.

Please don’t camp out in confusion by shrugging your shoulders and walking away from the thoughts and questions. Instead, get real with the questions and doubts you have. Stop pretending you don’t have any; rather, bring them to Jesus and ask for His help in sorting them out.

Faith is simple, but it’s not easy.

What are you hoping for? Are you impatient for that thing to arrive or happen? Me too. What haven’t you seen yet? Is it a job? A break? A relationship? A much-needed bailout? Can you trust that it might happen soon, even though it hasn’t yet? This is what Jesus said real faith looked like.

Instead, faith is having the guts to ask the questions about your beliefs, knowing God’s love is big and patient enough to cradle us in our unbeliefs.

Faith is also having the guts to actually do something about what you say you believe.

He doesn’t want us to agree with Him; He wants us to do something about our beliefs and engage the world.

When we take a big risk with our faith, distractions seem the most ready to derail us.

Here’s my question for you: What is distracting you? Is it your work? Half of my friends are afraid they’ll lose their jobs, and the other half are afraid they will keep them. Is it a difficult relationship? Maybe it’s something in your past you are ashamed of or something in your future you are afraid of. Don’t get punked by these things, and don’t ignore them. Deal with them.

Here’s something the text doesn’t highlight but I think is important: How did Peter get back to the boat? Don’t miss this. God often does as much on the way back from our failures as He does on the way there with our aspirations.

God is still in the business of rescuing us from the waves. In Peter’s moment of doubt, Jesus moved toward him, not away.

When you believe something so fully, you’re willing to take a risk; and when you doubt something so genuinely, you’re willing to cry out for help.

Saying we have faith without any doubt ignores our humanity and cheapens our faith rather than deepening it.

Don’t ever think that God looks at your honest attempt to join Him with some uncertainty as a failure. He is ecstatic about every move you make toward Him, and He’s ready to grip your wrist hoping you will grab His the moment you doubt the miracle He is up to in your life. Even if you let go of Him, He won’t let go of you.

But I also think that loss, like doubt, is an invitation to step out courageously toward Jesus. However it is you experience setbacks or sadness, do so with intention.

Obeying what God invites us to do even before we understand it is an act of faith that God honors. When I tell God I want to have it all explained to me before I will obey, it makes faith sound like a negotiation—and it’s not.

We have an opportunity every day to courageously make room for our doubts and embrace Jesus in the midst of them.

Bold faith is meant to work in the real world, but it requires that you and I first become real in our faith.

Availability can launch more dreams than you could ever imagine.

We all want the same things in life: love, acceptance, and connection.

He showed me that when it comes to generous acts of selfless love, we are rivers, not reservoirs.

Gratefulness isn’t just a feeling we hang on to like a dusty high school trophy; it’s a response we pass along like a breeze.

When it comes to availability, there are three main ways we can create it: our time, our talent, and our treasure.

That’s how I know I’m living an undistracted life: when I’m joyfully, abundantly, and unreasonably available to the people around me.

Getting rid of a big distraction has everything to do with being available elsewhere, right?

He didn’t try to control the outcome, even when He knew it would be painful.

Availability spawns opportunity; opportunity inspires more availability; and the cycle carries on and creates deeper purpose.

Here’s my point. Not everything went exactly as we planned, but who cares, right? A couple of things will go right for you, and a couple simply won’t. God doesn’t keep score, and you shouldn’t either. When we are tempted to bring Him only our successes, God reminds us He delights at our attempts even when they fail.

What has got you distracted? What is the big ambition you’ve been trying to launch that seems to be stuck on the tarmac? I know it’s hard; much of life is hard. Get back at it. Keep showing up for yourself and the people who will benefit if you don’t quit. You are probably just a few sentences away from the next grand adventure.

The words we use can become weapons or heal wounds. Choose wisely.

seems the world has been using a lot of live fire recently in our words with other people. Have you felt that?

Do the words you use show a heart full of grace, love, and acceptance or one of disapproval, condemnation, and vitriol? Undistracted people go for a lot of the first batch and little to none of the second. Do your words invite pain or joy?

It was a reminder to me that our words might be costing our relationships much more than most of us realize.

Because it became more important to me to be right than to be Jesus. I made it about me rather than about Him.

Don’t distract others with negative scattershot. Your well-chosen words can shift the people around you toward something better and more beautiful instead.

Then I remembered, when it comes to Jesus, our job is to be love, not God’s publicist or master of fancy words and spin.

Don’t get distracted thinking about what your next move is or whether you will be acknowledged for your efforts.

Go love people in extravagant, wildly inefficient ways by speaking words of beauty into their lives. Your words have that kind of power. Get a couple in play and see what happens.

Here’s God’s plan for you and me. Our words can liberate the best in us. Don’t overcomplicate it.

Find words of love and affirmation and understanding that come from a heart liberated from cynicism and hatred.

Our failures don’t mean that we are failures.

Mistakes are reminders of our desperate need for Him in our lives.