Stay Focused

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

STAY FOCUSED

Luke 21:29-38

29 He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."  37 Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, 38 and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.

NIV

We have arrived at the concluding statements of Jesus’s dissertation to his disciples. He makes one final thought to them about being able to detect when all this will happen, when the kingdom of God is near. If we thought his words were only for his present disciples then we would have to assume the kingdom of God already came and we missed it, it is all over, all the signs already happened and we are a whole other generation of people who are all left behind to fend for ourselves. But that is not the case, because God made sure his words will never pass away, as Jesus says here. As far as this generation not passing away until all these things happen, that word can mean either an age, such as the age of man on earth, or successive generations after another such as this word was used in Matthew to say that were fourteen generations from Abraham to David and from David to Jesus. So Jesus did not mean it was just those twelve men but the age of man would continue until all those signs happened and he returns for his people. Then the age of man on earth will be over. But the words we should focus on are his next words. We should not get headaches from being drunk, that is spending our life in a drunken state, but instead be of sound mind, understanding the signs of the times. If we were drunk, even on life, on the material life of this world, we might not have the right frame of mind to see the kingdom when it comes. If we are living in anxiety, that is always concerned about our life here, and what we are going to eat, what we are going to wear, where we are going to live, what we have and what we don’t have, that day of the Lord will come and we will not be ready, not looking up, not seeing the truth. Here again Jesus tells us that if we do not get so weighed down with this life, and all the ways of the world, but rather stay in communication with him, we will escape all the things that will happen and we will be standing in the presence of the Son of Man. This certainly would imply that he is coming back for us to get us even at the moment all those signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth begin to happen, for it is as he said, when we see all that start to happen, stand firm, don’t run, look up, our redemption is near. We cannot allow ourselves to get distracted by the things of the world. Yes we have to live here, eat here and wear some clothes here, but to get so distracted that those things become the focus of our lives, when we drive ourselves to accumulate as much as we can, to secure our future here in this life, it may become so overpowering that we are not looking up when the times comes, in fact we may not be looking up at all. If we are so anxious about this life, we may be looking inward rather than looking upward. That is we are focused on us rather than God, we live a man-centered life instead of a God-centered life. We need to stay focused on God, on his plans for us, his desires for us, his divine will for our lives and the reason he created us.  We need to stand firm, and stay focused.