THINGS THAT WEIGH US DOWN

LUKE 21:34 NKJ 
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. 

OBSERVATION: 

In this chapter, Jesus is talking about things that will happen on the earth in the last days. Coupled with His warnings of the future is the necessity of staying alert spiritually.   

In our verse for today, Jesus lets us know the things that weigh down our hearts and leave us dull spiritually speaking.   

Carousing sounds like the party life. The word is more accurately rendered dissipation. That did not help me much. I looked up dissipation, and it means an over-indulgence in sensual pleasure. So, party life is not far off. Living to simply pursue pleasure is not a great pursuit. For one, it is a desire that never appears to be satisfied. And two, it places an unnecessary burden on our hearts causing us to be dull.   

Have you ever noticed after a Thanksgiving meal, where we typically overeat, we don't feel sharp? We feel bloated and lethargic. I try not to eat much before I speak because I don’t like that dull feeling. 

Drunkenness also weighs us down spiritually. Not to mention the toll it can take on us physically. Much has been said about the physical perils of being drunk. Jesus indicates it affects more than our physical bodies.   

And the cares of life, if left unchecked, can weigh us down and dull us spiritually. Being too caught up with all the distractions of our age slows us down. When we are worried and frazzled about what people think, our needs and desires, what we don't have, etc., we are not helping our hearts.   

APPLICATION: 

But Jesus did not say these things that weigh us down are inevitable. He said be on guard that they do not dominate us. Jesus is not against us engaging and enjoying life. But He doesn't want His people, His followers, living only for this temporary world.   

When I ran track many years ago, we would dress as light as possible. We knew how important it was for us to not carry extra weight in order to run our best race.   

The same principle applies today. Running our spiritual race stronger requires us to run lighter. Not being weighed down by partying, drunkenness, and the cares of this life is a better way to run. 

PRAYER: 

Dear Lord, help me shed some spiritual weight that I might run stronger for You.