The Son of Man will return…… “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.” Luke 21:34

First I saw it… then I heard it. But neither made any difference. The marriage of urgent need, unexpected timing and just dumb luck found me in the middle of an outside job. Our church sign had broken and the man who knew how to fix it was in California. He had called me on my cell phone and was waking me through the troubleshooting process. As I stood outside, my concentration was on him. NOT the approaching nasty storm.

In the story Scripture above, Jesus had just told His disciples about ‘The Day!’ It followed His warning that ONE DAY, and NO one can know when, the clock of Earth time will chime ‘Game Over!’ THEN… the clouds will part and HE will return. Was it Good News for them? Well, it depended upon what was on their hearts! But the story is for ME as well.

One version of the Bible says to ‘NOT be weighed down with ‘dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life’ I had to look up the word ‘dissipation.’ It means ‘unrestrained indulgence in physical pleasure.’ Sounds bad, huh? But that doesn’t necessarily infer everything bad! It can just as easily mean wasting time or snoozing in life. The main thing Jesus is pointing to is our ‘Focus!’ ‘Be Careful about what your HEART is FOCUSED upon!’

What I am doing at the moment does not necessarily point to where my heart is focused. We ALL have to work, eat and sleep. But there is a predominant underlying motive that always dominates us as we do the normal everyday things of life. It can be found by asking the simple question, “what do I REALLY want?” It takes ‘courage’ to ask the question of myself. And shocking honesty to HEAR the answer!

There is a storm coming. Everyone knows it. Whether it comes by your natural death or ‘The Day’ holds little importance. What MATTERS is, what is YOUR overall heart FOCUSED on RIGHT NOW? Are you living to escape responsibility, seek pleasure or escape? Or are you focusing on bigger eternal issues? And yes… you already KNOW what those are!

Jesus is trying to say that the time to examine your heart’s focus is NOW. NOT when the storm comes. And friends… the storm IS coming! Where is YOUR heart?