Luke 21:34-35
"34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 "For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. “
It is astounding to me that Jesus categorizes carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life together. It is further astounding that Jesus directs us not to allow our hearts to be weighed down with these things. The translations of the words drunkenness, carousing, and cares are just as revealing.
Drunkenness is repeated or regular intoxication
Carousing is, in the KJV, translated as a hangover
Cares is translated from a word that means to draw in different directions or distract.
These three weigh our hearts down or overburden them and when our hearts are burdened, we lose our focus. Jesus specifically warns us against losing our focus because His return is not only eminent but unknown in its time. We, therefore, must be ready when that time comes, and it is much easier to hear the warnings of the Holy Spirit when our hearts are clear and unburdened.
I have in times past, been drunk, and been hungover and there are two things I have learned about myself, {and I suppose everyone else}. First, when I am drunk, although I truly believe I react correctly in terms of appropriateness and sharpness, I actually act like a blundering idiot. Second, when I experience a hangover, I am grouchy and unloving, I am slow to respond, I am basically worthless until it passes. This is exactly why the Lord doesn’t want us drunk or hungover. We are worthless to the kingdom in either of these states. It is not because He doesn’t want unto have fun!
As well, it has been said that the beltway to stop man from fulfilling his dream is to give him two. When someone’s distracted and split they actually put in less than half their efforts toward any one thing. I am from a generation that embodies the thought of women multitaskers and in theory this notion is very effective- yet in real life… it is a failure. It is amid our distraction that our children are able to “get away” with watching one more show on TV or play one more video game. It is amid our distraction that our spouses are able to develop emotional affairs. It is amid our distraction that criminals are able to catch us off guard- All of these scenarios put us in a vulnerable place due to our distractions and diversions. They make us ineffective as people but especially as Christians-
This is why Jesus warns us to pay attention to ourselves- to take heed- pay attention to our habits because the enemy certainly is - and he is waiting exploit them!!!Make yourself focus - make yourself be who God called and created you to be or suffer the consequences!
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