Pursuing vs. Avoiding

Try this.

Fill a cup with hot coffee—all the way to the brim—and carry it to the kitchen table. As you walk, keep your eyes focused on the coffee cup; don’t look where you’re going. Chances are good that you’ll spill the coffee.

Try again, but this time look not at the cup but at your destination. Don’t worry about spilling the coffee, just look straight ahead. You’ll probably balance the cup with no problem.

That little experiment illustrates the difference between pursuing and avoiding in your spiritual life. We spend most of our spiritual energy avoiding sin—or cleaning up after it. Our concentration on what’s wrong leads us straight to it. But when we focus on God, concentrating our energy on what’s right, we’re far more likely to make progress.

Paul wrote that we are to "find out what pleases God" and not simply avoid stepping in a pile of sin.

What about you?  What is most likely to take your attention away from the pursuit of God?