Three Headed Monster

September 15

(Luke 21:34-36 NIV) “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.”

(Matthew 6:25-34 NIV)  ""Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? {26} Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? {27} Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? {28} "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. {29} Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. {30} If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? {31} So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' {32} For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. {33} But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. {34} Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Jesus warns of a three-headed monster that can weigh our hearts down and keep us from watching for His return. “Dissipation” is the scattering, wasting, or squandering of our time and affections. We have so many other “lovers” that our affection for Christ dissipates to the point of being non-existent. “Drunkenness” includes alcohol, but we can be intoxicated by money, sex, power, success, or possessions. This is why Jesus warns us not to go back to our houses for anything when we hear his call -- if we trust him, we won't need anything else. The “anxieties of life” can be crippling. Worry can become a lifestyle that weighs the heart down. Jesus warns against it. When we are filled with insecurity, it’s impossible to rest in the Lord. We become too anxious to watch for Jesus. Kill the three-headed monster, or it will kill you. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day