I have been teaching from Luke 21 and, recently, many of our residents and some of our staff shared with me that they found the week’s study so meaningful. This portion of Scripture can initially sound heavy; however, one can also find comfort and encouragement in it.
Luke 21:34-35 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth.”
Jesus lists several items of which we need to be careful. They are: carousing, drunkenness, and anxieties. What do these have in common? These behaviors can be generalized as careless, reckless, and all-consuming living.
Participation in such things can easily consume one’s heart. Jesus reminds them not to be caught up in the things of this world and so be distracted from a relationship with him. He invites us to choose him over what life offers.
Jesus is also concerned with anxieties that bring heaviness of spirit and can draw one away.
Jesus is reminding them, and us, to be detached from the problems of life in order to remain free of entrapments that will consume them. We are to remain alert to what is happening around us and to be aware of how it influences us. Why? Because “that day will close on you suddenly like a trap” (verse 35). We can easily become caught up in the temptations and the cares of life and be caught unaware of the time closing in on us.
The final verses of Luke 21 bring us the example Jesus set before us. “Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives…” (verse 37). What does this tell about Jesus? Even though he knew what was soon to happen to him, he stayed faithful to the work God had set before him. He withdrew in solitude to seek God in prayer each evening for refreshing and encouragement.
Jesus challenges believers to value their life and their purpose and to stay focused. We can best do this by not letting our mind and spirit be dulled by careless living. We can become spiritually wise and keep our hearts in tune to God through seeking him in his word and prayer.
By following Jesus’ example, we can fulfill God’s purpose for us by remaining faithful to the tasks God has given us. What are those tasks?
To be witnesses to the world around us, to give a drink of water, lend a helping hand, bring comfort to the weary; whatever is needed to bring Christ’s love to a hurting world.
