As a Christian, you have been bought by the blood of Jesus.  You are to glorify God in your body and your spirit.  1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  The Apostle Paul pleads with us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.  Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”  Since you have been purchased by God and are to present your body as a living sacrifice to God, how much of your life is spent in service to God? 

While you are to serve God with your body and your spirit, there are things in your life that can distract you from your service to God.  The Apostle Paul implies that marriage is a distraction.  1 Corinthians 7:34-35 “There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.  And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.”  While marriage may be a distraction, it is better to marry than to commit sexual immorality.  1 Corinthians 7:1-2; 9 “Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.  Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.”  “But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”  If you are unmarried and can remain single in your desire to serve God, choose that; you will be avoiding the distraction of marriage.  If you cannot exercise sexual self-control, then get married. 

I submit to you that work can be a distraction.  We each are expected by God to work and provide for our own as we are able.  1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Apparently, there were those in Thessalonica who were not working at all.  2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”  While work is important, work can be taken to an extreme.  If you spend an excessive amount of time working, work can then be a distraction from serving and glorifying God.  

In the beginning, God created the Sabbath so that six days of a week were for working and the seventh day was a day of rest.  Mark 2:27 “And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’”  When Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man, I understand that it is not good for you to work all the time; man needs a time for resting.  While I do not understand that the command to observe the seventh day of the week (the Sabbath) applies to us today, I do believe that the principle of the Sabbath is still applicable; you and I need a time for resting from our labors.  Some of us use our time for resting by engaging in some form of recreation.  Recreation can include reading for pleasure, watching television, sports, games, crafts, sightseeing, computer activities, exercise, hunting and fishing for pleasure and many other activities that people enjoy.  While it is not wrong of itself to enjoy recreation, I submit that recreation can be a distraction from serving and glorifying God, especially if much time is spent in recreation. 

It is not my intent to spell out what is a distraction in your life from serving and glorifying God.  You must decide that for yourself.  We will each stand before the judgement seat of Christ and give an account of what we have done with our lives.  2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  My intent is to encourage you.  I encourage you to be aware of those things in your life that distract you from your service and glorification of God and I encourage you to present your body as a living sacrifice to God.