Cares of This Life- Take Heed.

What does it mean to be prepared for Jesus? How can being caught up in cares keep us from salvation?

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. 

The cares of this life will keep us from focusing on the return of our Lord. If our lives aren't centered on the return of our Savior then He will return and we won't be ready, we will be unaware.  The Lord's return is going to be like a SNARE.

A snare- a trap.

When you think of a snare, a trap for people, what do you imagine?  If someone sets a trap for you what would make it work?  A trap will NOT work if the person is aware of its existence. When you are aware of a trap you look out for it. If you know there is a snare set up in the woods geared towards entrapping a human being and you set out to walk in those woods then you will be on the lookout for that trap. If you aren't looking for that trap what happens? It catches you unaware.  When our Savior returns many are going to be caught unaware- the majority. People are just too caught up in the here and now, and their part in the here and now- and not in the future in Christ's kingdom.  Christ's kingdom isn't very real for people, it's more an abstract thought than a reality. It needs to be a reality. It needs to be so real to us that we are in a constant state of watchfulness for our Lord's return.

We have to TAKE HEED to ourselves!

If we aren't taking heed to ourselves then our hearts WILL be overcharged with surfeiting, and before you skip over that word without knowing its meaning let me tell you. Our hearts can be overcharged with gorging ourselves on any and all selfish desires we have. Consuming TOO MUCH of something is the definition and we are constantly consuming too much of THINGS- food, tv, videos, work, play, drink, pleasure of any and all kinds. Our selfish pursuits are paramount to us - even in disguise. We can selfishly do something for others, all the while telling ourselves we are being putting out a bit for doing it, but hey, that's our cross to bear and aren't we being good Christ followers for doing it? We can do so many things that have selfish roots and not even be aware of it because we call it 'life'. And the majority of people will live this 'life' in that way and be considered normal, average, typical. We need to TAKE HEED to ourselves… we need to know our motives, our reasonings for all the things we do. Yes, ALL the things we do. If you don't want to know your motives or reasonings then you better ask yourself why not. Are you trying to hide from yourself? People can be very successful at hiding their true motives for the things they do, not wanting to delve too deeply into their own lives, afraid of what they might find.

When we TAKE HEED we are called to ask ourselves if we are letting our hearts be overcharge with selfishly consuming anything, if we are caught up in drunkenness of any sort, if the cares of living have taken over our existence we have to recognize it and STOP. TAKE HEED!!!!!!

Our Savior is returning! We have to WATCH and PRAY ALWAYS that will are accounted worthy to escape all the horrors to come for those who are not true Christ followers, and that we will be able to stand before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

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. 

What does it mean to be prepared for Jesus? How can being caught up in cares keep us from salvation?

Our daily bread …  remember the Lord's prayer? It's prayed at least daily, yes? If that prayer wasn't supposed to be prayed daily then why put the phrase.. daily bread?

After this manner…. Pray----

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 

Mat 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread. 

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 

Daily recognize Our Father God in heaven and His holy name.

Daily recognize Our Father's kingdom to come.

Daily recognize our need of daily bread- spiritual and physical.

Daily recognize the need to have our sins forgiven, and our need to forgive others.

Daily recognize that we need Our Father not to lead us into temptation.

Daily recognize that we need to be delivered by Our Father from evil.

Daily recognize the kingdom is Our Father's.

Daily recognize the power is Our Father's.

Daily recognize the glory is Our Father's.

Being prepared for our Savior's return is to have a very real relationship with God, so real that we know  He is our everything and nothing else in this world should usurp His place in our lives no matter how tempting it is to allow the CARES, the many, many CARES of this life to overcome us.

Let us all TAKE HEED. We don't want to be overtaken by the snare of our Savior's return, caught up in the trap of this world and ignoring the world to come, His kingdom. Let the Father's kingdom come be daily on our minds. All through the grace, the will, the mercy, the love of our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!!!!!