Luke 21:34–36

Luke 21:34-36 

English Standard Version 

  What weighs down your heart?

  Jesus warns us about three things.

  Dissipation, which is excessive indulgence in pleasures.  Something to be wary of, but also probably easier to notice when you're doing it.  Hard to do without some planning, I think.  

  Drunkenness, which needs no explanation.  Also fairly easy to notice when you're doing it.  At least at the start.  It's fairly straightforward to make choices to avoid this... most people aren't forced to drink.

  Cares of this life.  What do you worry about?  This one is tough, because we can worry without even thinking much about it.  We can worry in the car on the way to work and worry while we're eating lunch and worry while we're on the phone at 3pm and worry at 4 in the morning when our minds don't have anything else to think about.  Have you ever found yourself worrying because you don't have anything to worry about?  Worry can weigh down your heart.  

  So stay awake, friends.  Pray to have strength to escape these traps.  I don't know that it's the only antidote... but it's the best one.  Pray for strength to resist the temptation of pleasures, the easy lies of drunkenness, and the excessive worries of this life.  Pray for that, clearly and often, that our prayers may be answered and our hearts may not be weighed down but clearly focused on Christ.

Luke 21:29-33

Luke 21:29-33 

English Standard Version 

  If I drive by a grove of trees laden with oranges, even I know that these are orange trees.  That's about the limits of my powers of deduction when it comes to plants, but I can recognize trees when they are producing fruit.  I can apple trees, too.

  Jesus is telling his disciples that they'll know when God's Kingdom is near.  We can spend weeks and months and years trying to interpret exactly what Jesus means when he talks about the end times... or we can simply choose to trust that it will be clear.  The fruit will be on the tree, and we don't need to guess.  When I read Revelation, it doesn't sound subtle.  We won't have uncertainty when Jesus returns.  

  So we can rest in confidence that we will know, and trust in God's Word.  Jesus is reminding us here -- everything else will fall away, but God's Word endures forever.  So why would we place our trust anywhere else?  What other guide do we want to pick up to tell us how to live our lives?  Why choose something that doesn't stand forever?

Luke 21:25-28

Luke 21:25-28

English Standard Version 

  Do you remember the old videos that showed the atom bomb exploding just outside the schoolroom window?  What were the children inside supposed to do in such an event?  Duck and cover.  That will fix everything.

  Jesus tells us to do the opposite.  When there is distress throughout the cosmos, to the extent that the sun, moon, and stars are disrupted by events, and there is distress of nations along with the roaring of sea and waves, as people faint with fear, what are we to do?  

  Duck and cover?

  Absolutely not.  

  Jesus tells us that cosmic disruption isn't a reason to fear.  In the midst of chaos, Jesus is still on the throne.  Christ is still King.  You need not fear -- despite what may be churning outside, God is alive and on the move, so be bold and proclaim your eternal hope in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who will walk through the valley of the shadow of death along with us, and through him, we will endure!

Luke 21:20–24

Luke 21:20-24

English Standard Version 

  For many years, I have set hopes in the Cincinnati Reds to win another World Series.  To be honest, I'd be happy with a victory in a playoff series, which has not happened since 1995 (the longest playoff victory drought in professional sports).  Unfortunately, the Reds leadership is not very serious about winning, and so that drought will continue for the foreseeable future.  To set my hopes in them is to set myself up for disappointment.

  Jesus is warning us about where we set our hopes.  The thought of Jerusalem under siege was heartbreaking to all, including Jesus (remember that he wept over the city).  No one wants to see destruction, but Jesus is warning that it will come, and in 70 AD, the Romans proved him correct.  

  If our ultimate hopes are in mortal things, whether it is money or power or beauty or youth or sports teams or other people, we will end up disappointment.  Destruction can come for all of it - while sin and death were defeated at the cross, they have not yet been fully vanquished, and will not be until Christ comes in fullness.  

  Our ultimate hope should be in something that is worthy of ultimate things, and is strong enough to bear that hope.  Only Christ and his Kingdom can make that claim, and only Christ and his Kingdom have the strength, power, and wisdom to support that.

  Choose wisely where you focus your thoughts and your loves, and order your life appropriately.