Christ is Returning, Ready or Not!

Luk 21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Luk 21:35  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

LOOK at YOURSELVES!

Are you all about overeating?

Are you all about getting drunk?

Are you all about the cares of this life?

Do you fall into any of those categories? Seriously, do you?

Are you consumed by food? 

You do NOT have to be overweight to be an over eater, a surfeiting person.

Dictionary def-

sur·feit  (sûr

v. sur·feit·ed, sur·feit·ing, sur·feits

v.tr.

To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust.

v.intr. Archaic

To overindulge.

n.

1.

a. Overindulgence in food or drink.

b. The result of such overindulgence; satiety or disgust.

2. An excessive amount.

Pasted from <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/surfeiting>

Eating to excess, overindulging, eating more than you should.  How easy it is to do this, because in truth we don't need a lot of what we do eat. Where one bite would suffice, we take ten.  Where one sip would do, we down a whole glass.

Those of us living in the Western world, not hampered by devastating droughts and famines so  that our food supply is virtually non-existent, are consumed by surfeiting and the sad thing is, most people don't even realize it. I'm not saying that our government hasn't declared a war on obesity, but the surfeiting goes far beyond obesity.  We are obsessed with food and drink.  While many people would not dream of committing a crime of any sort, of sinning, few think little of surfeiting as a sin, as a real problem.

We are to TAKE HEED to ourselves.

If we do NOT take heed to ourselves then Christ's return will come upon us as a snare, we will NOT be ready!

Seriously!

Christ said to TAKE HEED to ourselves!  We have to look at ourselves and comprehend there are things that can stop us from being wholly His!

And before you count yourself lucky because you don't have a problem with food obsession, or alcohol, you HAVE to ask yourself if you are a worrier.  Seriously. It's not just overeating or over drinking that can ensnare you and keep you from being ready for Christ- it is also the -

CARES OF THIS LIFE.

Wow, right?

Who isn't caught up in the cares of this life?

We are not taught to NOT worry. We have learned the opposite. 

We are so consumed with worry over just about everything, that we have to medicate ourselves just to live. We have to numb ourselves so that worry doesn't cause us to lose all hope and give in to total despair. The trouble with medicating ourselves is we also run the risk of numbing our selves to a lot of other things.

So with this warning from Christ Himself- how are we to ever imagine we have any hope at all of being ready for Him?

Only through HIM.

Our lives have to be consumed by HIM, not by eating, drinking, and worrying about this life.

Consumed by Christ!

Does Christ mean more to you than food, drink, and this life?

He should.

Can you even imagine, the day arrives, Christ returns and you realize in that moment that food has kept you from eternal life? That drinking alcohol has kept you from eternal life? That worrying has kept you from eternal life?  It wasn't that you murdered someone, it wasn't because you hated Christ, it wasn't because you were too selfish, it wasn't because you lied, it wasn't because you were disobedient and hateful to your parents, it wasn't because you abused others, but because you were consumed by your flesh desire for food, drink, and by worrying.

We don't want to imagine that those things could actually keep us from Christ!

But it our Savior Himself who has warned us in no uncertain terms that those very things can ensnare us so that we are unaware that the coming of our Savior is so much more important than all these things!

Have we regulated Christ's return as being the most important thing in our lives?  Or have we shoved it under a pile of food, drink, and worry?

When do we think about Christ and His return?  Is it the first thing upon waking up, the last thing upon going to sleep, do we have a study hour that we've regulated thought about Christ to that time? Christ is returning, ready or not! Preferably, ready and not unaware.

All by the grace of God!

All through His Love!

His Mercy!