By Dr. Tony Evans

When the kids were young, we took them to Disneyland.

We were there during the peak of vacation season, so the place was packed. And after a while, Lois and I got so caught up in all of the fun and excitement that—I’ll admit it—we let down our guard. We weren’t paying close attention to the kids. And before we knew it, our youngest son, Jonathan, was no longer with us. He had wandered off when we weren’t watching. Now he was nowhere to be seen. 

In a place where there should have been nothing but joy, fun and festivities, we found ourselves despondent and scared. The so-called Magic Kingdom hadn’t turned out to be that magical after all. It took some time before we found Jonathan, but we eventually located him in a toy store looking at the displays. 

Our problem that day was that we’d all become distracted by the sights and sounds of the kingdom we were in that we lost our focus on what mattered most—our son. 

Today, you and I are living in a world where, if we don’t intently focus on God’s kingdom, we can easily be pulled away into the lure of another kingdom. The kingdom of darkness would like nothing more than to woo us away. It will use the illusion of excitement and fun to get us there, but once sucked in, we’ll discover it was all smoke and mirrors.

Let’s keep our focus on the kingdom that matters most.

Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder, president of The Urban Alternative, and author of over 100 books, booklets, and Bible studies.