Have you ever been attracted to someone or something and that attraction grabs your attention?  I could be a boy/man who grabs a major part of your think-time.  It could be a girl/woman who is so beautiful that you spend most waking minutes and hours thinking about her.  What about things?  How about a car or cars that aren’t in your driveway but you wish they were?  It could be a job that you long for but haven’t realized.  All of us at sometime in the past or maybe in the present have a love for something and can’t get it out of our mind.

Imelda Marcos, wife of the past president Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, had in her possession over 2700 pairs of shoes in her closet.  Can you imagine how big her closet had to be to accommodate all of those shoes.  Do you realize that in order to wear every pair of shoes one time, it would take over 7 years to accomplish that feat.  Think about all the different kind of clothes that would need to go with each pair of shoes.  She loved shoes.  It seemed that the more shoes she got, the more she wanted and wouldn’t be denied the passion of her heart.

Growing up in rural Colorado, cattle and winter wheat were the staple industries of the area.   I grew accustomed to wearing hats, primarily baseball type hats.  I began collecting them over the years to the point that I had over 200 hats.  During the time of collection, I was constantly looking for new and different hats that I could add to my collection.  I have since given many away, but I loved my hats and wore many of them through the years.  I did have a few that I never wore.  The passion has worn off, but the passion for things or for relationships can divert our attention away from the primary focus that is most important to our health both physically, emotionally, and spiritual.

I was reminded of another person in the bible who had a passion for women.  He collected them like Imelda collected shoes.  His name was Solomon and was the son of King David.  In fact Solomon took over the kingdom when his father was about to die.  “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.  1 Kings‬ ‭11:1-2, 4 NIV‬

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (or women at his disposal)  These wives came from all different countries including Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and Hittite.  Each woman brought her belief about God to the marriage.  Because Solomon loved them, he listened to their belief systems and sought to value where they were coming from.  God told Solomon told him not to marry women who had different belief systems to his own belief system because they would turn his heart away from God.  Because of Solomon’s stubbornness to hold fast in love to these women, the power of the passion caused his heart to be drawn away from the Lord.

On this journey, there will be many things and people that we come in contact with.  We need to be careful in keeping our focus on the Lord and not allowing our stubbornness to dictate our choices.  Unchecked stubbornness is a powerful tool to divert our attention.