“And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” — Luke 12:13-15
I find it interesting a person asked Jesus to do something, and Jesus seemed to ignore it. Almost like when they accused the adulterous woman and He stooped to the ground ignoring what the accusers were saying. It’s not that Jesus didn’t hear them, for He always hears. Nor is it that He doesn’t know the answer, for He knows the answer to every question. He deliberately chose to ignore. He seems to aim at the motive behind the question, which he knew was greed in this man’s heart.
The Lord said, “Who made me a judge?” Wait, what? He is judge. In fact, He is THE judge, but He still chose not to answer. He was not going to be sidetracked, He stays on topic. There are some strong takeaways we can learn from this:
- When speaking about salvation, a person asks where Cain got a wife, are dinosaurs real, when is the end of the world, why are there so many hypocrites in church, or why are there so many Bible versions. The devil has blinded their eyes. Don’t be sidetracked, preach to them Jesus.
- When trying to confront a Christian about an important topic (need for growth, stop a sin, or faithfulness to God), they want to point to someone else not living right or what you think about aliens, styles of music, on another topic. There are many issues that will sidetrack a conversation, but stay on topic.
- In ministry and life focus. Plenty of good things will distract you from focusing on the more important issues. Politics, preferences, and pastimes get far more attention than they should. Why does the Bible not mention so many of our controversial subjects today? When God seems silent, we should hesitate to make loud statements. The devil is a master distractor, and he is distracting many of God’s servants with secondary issues. Stay focused!
To stay focused, you must ignore inquiring or distracting issues. Jesus stayed on topic, and we must do the same when witnessing, helping others, and living our lives for God’s glory.