Don’t Get Robbed… Hello weekend readers. March is almost over and Al and I are getting ready to head up to Northern New Mexico for 6 months of campground hosting. Where did the time go?! I spoke with a ranger there and she was upset because, again, several signs at the lakeside were spray-painted with profanity, and 4 were stolen. Since they are federal we have to procure them and getting anything from the feds is slow. Last week I helped at Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center where I worked for 15 years before retiring. People were coming in and I couldn’t find the roller cart for their suitcases. Guess what—someone stole it! A neighbor by us had their American flag stolen. A good friend mentioned how an elderly aunt had a lot of money stolen by an online scammer. Obviously, I am musing on robbing and stealing—ugh! But hang on, there is a very spiritual connection with this…

First, let’s find the root of the word ‘distraction’ from Webster’s dictionary: 1) Something that distracts; an object that directs one’s attention away from something else. 2) The act of distracting or the state of being distracted. 3) The state of being very bored or annoyed or something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else.

The word ‘distraction’ is a noun that quickly plays out into a verb and into action, distracting us from something. One effective tactic that thieves often use to rob a store is distraction. They enter the store as a group and separate themselves making it easy to steal. Two of the group begin a disturbance then this catches the attention of the customers and store clerks who are now in the middle of the disturbance, not realizing the other accomplices have filled their pockets and left the store before anyone realized what happened. In 2024, the losses of robberies in the U.S. were over 1.3 billion dollars!

This tactic is exactly what Satan does to us as well. My Bible study group just finished Pastor Louie Giglo’s book Don’t Let The Enemy Sit At Your Table. It’s right up the alley of distraction. I highly recommend it. Another book by Pastor Sawvelle, Our Eyes Are On You, is another good read. He says “The enemy begins to rob you when you take your eyes off Jesus, when you allow your heart to dim with love and devotion to Jesus. Yes, Jesus’ grace guards and keeps you, but when your relationship to him grows cold, you begin to lose the fullness of the abundant life he promised you. Satan’s #1 strategy is to rob from you and destroy you to dull your relationship with Jesus—who is the essence of life and life more abundantly!”

Like the store robbers, Satan’s strategy is effective for stealing—as well as for tempting! You see, the enemy loves to seduce us into paying attention to the distractions of life, all the while causing havoc unnoticed in other areas. And if this tactic is successful, we don’t realize it before it’s too late and sin has already taken hold of our lives! That’s why the Apostle Peter gives us this warning: [1 Peter 5:8-9 MSG] “Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith.”

My maternal grandma would say “what do you have in your pockets?” We would show rocks, pennies, gum—you now, kid’s stuff. She’d laugh and then say “Is Jesus in your pocket, too? Cause if he isn’t in there you’re going to get robbed by the old devil.” To this day those words still resonate in my heart. I want my ‘spiritual pockets’ filled with the strength of the Lord, so when the enemy is out prowling I know I am protected in every way. Like my grandma taught us, “Flick that old devil off your shoulder and shout in Jesus name you must go!” She was right—no one is going to rob me when I’m walking with Jesus. AMEN!