Goldfish in the Morgue Devotional
Day 6 - Toxic Distractions (Ephesians 5:15-21)
Toxic Distractions
Scripture Passage: Ephesians 5:15-21
Focal Verse: And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, ~ Ephesians 5:18
Most of you would be flabbergasted if you knew the statistics showing toxicology results for traffic fatalities in my jurisdiction. In fact, I’m afraid if I told you, several of you might never want to get in a car and drive to Publix for milk and bread again. I know, having done this job for thirty years, my attitude toward driving has changed drastically and I will do everything I possibly can to avoid pulling out onto the nearby interstate. Instead, I take the backroads to get where I’m going. Needless to say, something like 98% of our traffic fatalities have drugs or alcohol in their systems (which honestly, is consistent with the national average). And that’s only for the dead people! Imagine what’s in the systems of those who get behind the wheel and somehow manage to get to their destination safely!
In recent weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about idols. False gods. Graven images. I’ve studied the historic variety and I’ve reflected on the gods that modern society embrace the most today. What do you think? What idols do you think people worship the most in our society today? Sex? Pornography? Sexual and gender identity? Those are biggies, no doubt. Money and greed? Celebrities? All of the above, to be sure! But there’s one god that encompasses all these things and so much more. The biggest false god of our generation, I believe, is the god of Distraction! We have an almost compulsive need—an addiction of sorts—to distract ourselves from reality. Such distractions can be found in sex, drugs, music, entertainment (books, movies, video games). We can’t get into our silent cars without a radio blaring to distract us. Come home from work, chances are the first thing that comes on is the TV. Our eyes are locked onto screens nearly seven hours per day according to recent studies.
In today’s passage, Paul exhorts the Ephesians to take their minds off useless distractions and focus instead on the only thing that truly matters…Jesus Christ! He tells us it’s far more satisfying to focus on godly matters than to get swept away by wine. Better to sing praises (and love the phrase he uses ‘making melodies’ here…implying joyful noise!) to God than to hurl curses at the world. Better to be wise than to act with foolishness.
In fact, as I read this passage, I’m struck by something amazing. If you ever wanted to discover the secret to the explosion of Christianity onto a hostile Roman-ruled world, I’d say these verses capture it perfectly. The Romans—Gentiles in general—saw the way in which Christians lived. How they avoided foolishness. How they spent time in joyful fellowship with one another despite their hardships and they were in awe. They saw how believers could not be broken because their worlds weren’t consumed by distractions, but rather by a single God who was said to be the God of everything (simply unheard of during this time of polytheism). Everyone acts foolishly. It takes something and someone truly extraordinary to act the way the early Church did. Remember this. It’s not about avoiding alcohol. It’s not about acting foolish. It’s not about our entertainment, music, and sexual desires. It’s about separating ourselves from the herd. Living wisely with praise and thanksgiving in our hearts. That’s what makes us different. That’s what makes us authentic. It’s the greatest evangelistic appeal you can possibly make.
Father God, help us Lord to avoid acting foolishly. Help us to live wisely, with joy and thanksgiving. Help us, Lord to fellowship with each other in a way that makes the dark and evil world take notice. Help us to see that you are the only distraction we should ever focus on to fill the void in our life.
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Pick up a copy of I Died Swallowing a Goldfish and Other Life Lessons from the Morgue. Also, I wanted to let you know I’ve already started working on the stories for book two in the series, tentatively called The Potato Didn’t Pulled the Trigger and Other Life Lessons from the Morgue, which should be available Fall 2026.