Big Distractions and the Big Compel
Within the American expression of the Bride of Christ, our cultural assumptions can quietly shape us in ways that are inconsistent with a biblical worldview.
I have often wondered whether we have reversed God’s design for us as His followers and lost sight of His purposes for humanity. Have we become content to live in the shallows while avoiding the depths of His ways? Have we allowed unrecognized distractions to consume opportunities that could be offered for His glory?
These questions invite us to consider what I call the Big Compel.
God’s glory, unchanging love, and infinite worthiness compel every aspect of life for a disciple of Jesus. We are not driven by guilt, human ambition, or the need to prove ourselves. We are compelled by love for the One who gave Himself for us.
“For Christ’s love compels us.”
—2 Corinthians 5:14
Have We Forgotten Our First Love?
Have we forgotten our First Love?
Have we forgotten our allegiance to His Kingdom and our calling to become His instruments in the fulfillment of His purposes?
What is God’s design for the Bride of Christ? To what purpose and function does He call His Church?
When considering the Great Commission, John Piper summarizes our responsibility in global mission with a pointed statement:
“We are all goers or senders—or disobedient.”
Some are called to cross cultures as sent ones. Others participate by praying, giving, encouraging, equipping, and sustaining those who go. Yet none of us is invited to remain indifferent to Christ’s commission.
Sending involves far more than providing financial resources. Faithful senders embrace the task alongside those who go. They intercede persistently, offer encouragement, help carry practical burdens, and remain deeply invested in seeing disciples made among the nations.
Jesus gave His commission to the whole Church:
“Go and make disciples of all nations.”
—Matthew 28:19
The word translated “nations” is ethne—the peoples of the earth. Every disciple has a role in seeing God’s glory declared and multiplying disciples raised up among them.
A New Landscape of Distraction
When my husband and I first arrived on the mission field in 1991, we did not face the challenges created by today’s hyper-connected world.
Communication with our passport country was limited and often difficult. We could not instantly stream entertainment, follow events in the United States, or remain continually connected to family and friends through social media.
Today’s technology offers extraordinary benefits. It enables workers to communicate with supporters, access training, translate resources, maintain vital relationships, and share the gospel through media. Digital tools can accelerate Kingdom purposes when used wisely.
But connection can also become distraction.
A missionary may live physically among an unreached people while remaining emotionally and relationally tethered to life back home. Hours can disappear into social media, streaming entertainment, online news, and endless digital conversations.
The question is not whether technology is good or bad. The question is whether we are using it intentionally or allowing it to shape our attention and affections.
Will the End Vision—the launch of cascading movements to Christ—inform how we invest our time? Or will we be consumed by tools that were meant to serve us?
Rachel Kleppen’s article, “Netflix Is Making It Harder to Be a Missionary,” explores how constant connection to one’s former life can hinder the deep cultural presence required in cross-cultural ministry.
If we do not learn to practice self-control in an internet- and social-media-saturated age, our capacity to remain deeply present with God and people will be diminished.
Attention Is an Issue of Stewardship
Distraction is not unique to missionaries. Every disciple must decide what will form the heart, occupy the mind, and receive the hours entrusted by God.
Our attention is one of our most valuable resources.
This does not mean that rest, recreation, or communication with loved ones is wasteful. Healthy rest is essential. Enjoyment is a gift. Missionaries need supportive relationships, sustainable rhythms, Sabbath, and time to recover from the demands of cross-cultural life.
The problem arises when recreation ceases to restore us and begins to consume us—when digital habits numb rather than renew, isolate rather than connect, and weaken rather than strengthen our capacity to love God and others.
The goal is not relentless activity. It is surrendered attentiveness.
We want to become people who are present to God, present to our families, and present to those among whom He has placed us.
Discovery Bible Study: A Biblical Work Ethic
“He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”
—Colossians 1:28–29
The following Discovery Bible Study can help individuals and teams examine work, endurance, stewardship, and dependence upon Christ.
Read the Passages
- 1 Thessalonians 2:9–12
- 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13
- Acts 20:31–35
- 2 Timothy 2:1–10
- 2 Timothy 4:1–8
Read each passage aloud. Then ask someone to restate it in their own words without teaching or preaching.
Discovery Questions
- What do these passages reveal about God?
- What do they reveal about Paul’s calling and character?
- How did Paul invest his time and energy?
- How did he interact with the people he served?
- What hardships was he willing to endure?
- What did he hope to accomplish through his labor?
- What do these passages teach about dependence upon God?
- What example should we follow—and what must be adapted to our own calling, family responsibilities, health, and season of life?
- What is God asking you to change or obey?
- With whom will you share what you are learning?
What Can We Learn from Paul?
Paul’s work was marked by perseverance, sacrifice, and purpose.
At times, he labored night and day. He supported himself through practical work while also proclaiming the gospel and strengthening believers. He admonished, exhorted, and encouraged people with tears. His ministry was deeply relational—life upon life.
Paul was willing to endure hardship because he longed to see people reconciled to God and formed into maturity in Christ. He also wanted to model diligence for believers who supported themselves through ordinary work.
Yet Paul’s specific schedule should not become a rigid standard imposed upon every disciple.
Paul was single and carried a particular apostolic calling. A married person, a parent of young children, someone living with illness, or a worker recovering from trauma will carry different responsibilities and limitations.
Biblical diligence is not the same as compulsive overwork. Faithfulness cannot be measured merely by hours worked. Jesus Himself withdrew to pray and invited His disciples to rest.
Our goal is not frantic activity but fruitful obedience—laboring with the energy Christ supplies while honoring the responsibilities and limits He has given us.
How Can We Multiply Our Time?
We cannot create more hours, but we can steward our existing hours more intentionally.
Consider these practical possibilities:
- Integrate family and ministry appropriately.
Look for natural opportunities to practice hospitality, prayer, service, and disciple-making together without making family members feel that every interaction is a ministry assignment. - Remove lower-priority commitments.
Ask which activities are good but not essential in your present season. - Invite local believers and the lost into everyday life.
Travel, shop, prepare meals, or complete appropriate errands together. Ordinary life can become a setting for relational discipleship. - Steward mealtimes intentionally.
Share meals with Persons of Peace, emerging leaders, teammates, neighbors, or those who need encouragement. - Delegate wisely.
Release tasks that others can do so you can focus on responsibilities God has uniquely entrusted to you. - Establish digital boundaries.
Limit social media, news, and entertainment when they begin consuming attention needed for God, family, relationships, rest, or ministry. - Seek practical help.
When culturally appropriate and financially possible, consider fairly compensated household assistance or other support that relieves unsustainable burdens. - Invite outside perspective.
When you feel overwhelmed, ask a trusted coach, mentor, or teammate to help you examine how your time is being used. - Request additional workers.
Some burdens cannot be solved through better time management. Pray for and actively seek more laborers from near-neighbor disciples as well as new disciples from within the UPG. - Protect life-giving rhythms.
Preserve time for abiding in Christ, sleep, exercise, Sabbath, friendship, and unhurried presence with your family. For singles, cultivate life giving community both on-site, where possible, as well as on line.
The question is not simply, “How can I accomplish more?” A better question is, “How can I become more fully present and obedient to what God has actually asked of me?”
Inviting the Lord to Examine Our Time
Seeing cascading Kingdom Movements to Christ launched among the remaining unreached people groups requires surrenderedness.
How we spend our time is a strategic area to invite the Lord to examine.
We can prayerfully ask:
- What currently receives the best of my attention?
- Which habits deepen my love for Christ and people?
- Which habits repeatedly distract or numb me?
- Am I using technology as a tool, or is it quietly mastering me?
- Does my schedule reflect God’s priorities for this season?
- Am I working from intimacy with Christ or striving to prove my worth?
- What must I release to become more present and obedient?
The Big Compel is not the pressure to accomplish everything. It is the love and glory of Christ laying claim to everything.
His worthiness compels us to go.
His love compels us to send.
His glory compels us to pray.
His presence compels us to abide.
And His Kingdom purposes compel us to steward our attention, energy, resources, and time so that those who have not yet heard may one day become multiplying worshipers of Jesus.
May we refuse the shallows—not through restless striving, but through a deep and surrendered love for our First Love.
—R. A.
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