Luke 21:34-38 Don’t Get Drunk
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: November 27, 2018 Luke 21:34-38
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) I have thought before about the fact that the Bible is not as strict about drinking alcohol as the SDA church is. However, Jesus and the Bible definitely speak against drunkenness. I heard an interesting idea that applies to drinking alcohol in a sermon. The only way for the Holy Spirit to reach us is through our brains, so anything that interferes with our thinking or modifies the brain interferes with the Holy Spirit’s ability to communicate with us. Therefore, we should not drink alcohol. Being drunk will definitely block out the Spirit’s voice. In addition, I have heard that alcohol itself kills brain cells.
Jesus warns us against three things here. First, we should not live a life of pleasure at the expense of our bodies and minds. That kind of life ignores God and other people and focuses only on self. It ends in disaster. Second, we should not try to medicate the pain of life away with drunkenness. I believe this would include other drugs that people use to get high and forget about the pains of life. These drugs, including alcohol, interfere with the ability to think and receive the Holy Spirit’s council and comfort. In trying to avoid pain, we bar the healing and comfort we could receive from the Spirit. A pain blocker does not heal the sickness and other measures are necessary to get rid of the problem. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is necessary to heal the damage that this world does to us and using alcohol to dull the pain interferes with the Spirit’s ability to heal us. Third, we are not to let the stress and worry of daily life interfere with our relationship with Jesus. It is easy to be distracted by life and to allow the problems to overwhelm us. However, we must focus back on Jesus and allow Him to take our problems. He has promised this. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
(Understanding the Text) Jesus tells us to watch for His coming. Satan has laid a trap for us using the three situations that Jesus described. He tries to distract us from God by luring us with worldly pleasures, medicating us away from pain, and overwhelming us with worries. We have to be wary of all of those traps. My reading used to be part of the first two traps-pleasures and avoiding pain. I’m still not very good at coming to God with the pain and finding pleasure in God. I need to open myself up to the Spirit more in this area. I’m terrible at the worldly cares part. They constantly distract me and I allow even service for Jesus to become a care instead of a pleasure. I need to give You all of those so that I can focus my mind on You.
Jesus warns that judgment will come on the whole earth. He warns us to stay awake. He is not talking about physical sleep or the sleep of death. Instead, He is speaking of being aware of the flow of events. He is speaking of the same situation as the parable of the bridesmaids who did not have enough oil in their lamps. It seems that he was constantly having to warn us to watch and pray. In the garden of Gethsemane, it was a physical watch and pray for the disciples. By failing to follow Jesus’ advice, they experienced a world of pain and fear that could have been avoided. The same is true for me today.
(Revelation of God) Jesus wants us to stand before Him instead of cowering in fear and being destroyed. The day will come when He comes to the earth with His full glory revealed to take us with Him to heaven. In that day, only those who have a connection to Him will be able to stand in His presence without dying. This is the goal that God has been working towards since Eden and the fall of Adam and Eve. He has had to limit His interactions with us in order not to destroy us with His very physical presence. He wants to be with us completely and has been working toward that goal continuously. At the second coming, Jesus wants us to be ready so that He can transform us instead of killing us.
This is the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. We are told that He went to the temple every day to preach. He was there in the Council’s face brazenly defying them. (At least, that was their viewpoint.) They could not stand it. They had to do something. They would have loved to catch Him at some out-of-the-way place but weren’t sure exactly where He would be. Since they needed to arrange for a large group of soldiers, they needed to be sure of His location before they made their move. By leaving the city at night and going to the Mt. of Olives, Jesus was mobile and hard to predict. Also, I think Jesus was praying there during this final week rather than doing a lot of sleeping. This may have been part of the reason that the disciples had such a hard time staying awake on the last night. They had stayed with Jesus for several nights before as He had prayed intensely. Jesus may have wanted to be near the Father in nature rather than confined within walls. Also, He may have been protecting His friends in whose houses He might have stayed otherwise.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to stop letting the cares of this life interfere with my relationship with Jesus. I need to pray more and allow Jesus to take those cares away. I need to give Jesus my pain and let Him heal it. I need to find pleasure rather than stress in Jesus. I want You to be my greatest joy and peace. I want to trust You to take care of me, but I am broken and cynical and untrusting. I need You to give me faith and joy.