We must always pray and remain watchful so that we may be careful about ourselves and stand before the Lord.

We must always pray and remain watchful so that we may be careful about ourselves and stand before the Lord.

 

 

 

“Be careful yourselves, or your hearts will become weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life, and that day will come upon you unexpectedly like a trap.  For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.  Therefore, keep praying and remain watchful at all times, so that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”  Jesus taught in the temple during the day, and at night He went out and rested on the mountain called the Mount of Olives.  And all the people came early in the morning to the temple to listen to Him (Luke 21:34–38).

 

 

(1)    When I read and meditate on today’s passage, Luke 21:34–38, in the Korean Bible, I receive the central lesson: “We must always pray and remain watchful, being careful about ourselves so that we may stand before the Lord.”  After that, when I read and meditate on today’s passage in the Greek Bible, there are certain Greek sentences or words that I would like to understand more specifically.  I want to meditate on those sentences or words in particular and receive the lessons that God gives me through them.

 

(a)    The first sentence is, “Προσέχετε δὲ ἑαυτοῖς μήποτε βαρηθῶσιν ὑμῶν αἱ καρδίαι” (Prosechete de heautous mēpote barēthōsin hymōn hai kardiai) (“Be careful yourselves, otherwise … your hearts will become weighed down …”).

(i)       Here, I first became interested in understanding more specifically the expression “your hearts will become weighed down” [βαρηθῶσιν ... αἱ καρδίαι (barēthōsin ... hai kardiai)].

 

When we look deeply into this word in the original Greek, the reason why the Lord used this particular expression becomes more vivid and three-dimensional. An AI divided the combination of “barēthōsin (βαρηθῶσιν)” (“will become weighed down”) and “hai kardiai (αἱ καρδίαι)” (“the hearts”) into three dimensions and presented its specific meaning and lessons for meditation (Internet):

 

1.       The Original Meaning and Analysis of the Words

 

①      βαρηθῶσιν (barēthōsin): to become weighed down and burdened

 

Etymology: It is the passive form of the verb bareō (βαρέω), which comes from the noun baros (βάρος), meaning “weight” or “burden.”

 

Essential meaning: It means more than simply becoming dull or insensitive. It describes a condition in which a person is completely weighed down and rendered unable to move by an external heavy burden or pressure.

 

Meaning of the passive voice: Rather than the heart becoming dull because it deliberately chooses to do so, the passive voice suggests that, through continual exposure to something—dissipation, drunkenness, and worldly worries—the heart gradually becomes weighed down and paralyzed without the person even realizing it.

 

②      αἱ καρδίαι (hai kardiai): the center, the spiritual antenna

 

Etymology: This is the plural form of kardia (καρδία), meaning “heart.”

 

Essential meaning: In the Bible, the heart refers not only to emotions but also to the deepest center of a human being, where intellect, will, faith, and spiritual discernment are concentrated.

 

2.       The Meditative Meaning of “The Heart Becomes Weighed Down”

 

The Lord’s expression “your hearts will become dull (weighed down)” warns of the following spiritual conditions:

 

Paralysis of spiritual sensitivity (spiritual obesity): When the physical pleasures of the world—dissipation and drunkenness—or excessive stress for the sake of survival—“the worries of life”—accumulate upon the heart like heavy lumps of lead, the heart becomes dull, so that a person can no longer sense the Lord’s voice or the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

A condition in which one cannot rise: The day of the Lord’s coming is a time when we must remain spiritually awake and spiritually light.  But if the heart is crushed beneath the weight of the world, we cannot spiritually rise toward the Lord or respond to Him with alertness.

 

3.       Specific Lessons Given Through This Sentence

 

We must check the “weight” of our hearts every day: We need to examine what is chiefly weighing down our hearts today.  Whether it is temporary worldly pleasure or excessive anxiety about the future, if these things are pressing down on our spiritual antenna—our kardia—we need to deliberately lay them down before the Lord and undergo a kind of “spiritual diet.”

 

We must build a “defensive wall” to protect ourselves: Just as barēthōsin (“will become weighed down”) is in the passive voice, the influences of the world naturally weigh down our hearts if we remain passive.  Therefore, “always praying and remaining watchful” becomes the only defensive wall that prevents the weight of the world from settling upon our hearts (Internet).

 

(ii)       In addition, I would like to meditate more specifically here on the words “Be careful yourselves” [Προσέχετε δὲ ἑαυτοῖς (Prosechete de heautous)].

 

The first active attitude we must take in order to “always pray and remain watchful” is contained in these words, “Prosechete de heautous (Προσέχετε δὲ ἑαυτοῖς)” (“Be careful yourselves”).  If the previously examined condition of “the heart becoming weighed down (barēthōsin)” is a passive result that happens to us without our realizing it, this command is the active command to defend ourselves by working diligently every day to prevent it.  Let us deeply meditate on the meaning of the original language by dividing it into three parts (Internet):

 

1.       The Original Meaning and Analysis of the Words

 

①      Προσέχετε (Prosechete): to fix one’s attention and keep watch

 

Etymology: It is a verb formed from pros (πρός), meaning “toward,” and echō (ἔχω), meaning “to have” or “to hold.” It originally came from a nautical expression referring to fixing the steering of a ship toward a harbor in order to anchor it.

 

Essential meaning: It is not simply a matter of thinking, “Oh, I should be careful.” Rather, it means “to firmly fix one’s thoughts, eyes, and the anchor of one’s heart in a particular place and watch so as never to become distracted.”

 

Tense (present imperative): In Greek, the present imperative calls for continuous and repeated action. It is not a command to be careful just once, but a command to “continually examine yourself and remain awake at every moment, as continuously as breathing.”

 

②      δὲ (de): but (a contrasting conjunction)

 

Although it is sometimes omitted in Bible translations, the original text contains the conjunction de, meaning “but.”  While people of the world live by simply eating, drinking, worrying, and going along with the flow, the word emphasizes the distinction: “But you must live differently.”

 

③      ἑαυτοῖς (heautous): yourselves

This word is a second-person reflexive pronoun, precisely identifying the object of attention and watchfulness as “yourselves.” It means that before criticizing the faith of others or the corruption of the world, we must first look carefully at our own spiritual condition, as though examining it under a microscope.

 

2.       Deep Meditation on “Be Careful Yourselves”

 

When we connect this sentence with its supposed nautical background, a vivid spiritual picture emerges.

 

The act of taking hold of the spiritual steering wheel: When a sailor loses hold of the helm in a sea with strong winds and waves, the ship can drift away in an instant.  Likewise, when the waves of worldly temptation (dissipation) and worry (the cares of life) come crashing over us, if we do not fix the helm of our hearts upon the Lord, we will unknowingly drift away spiritually.

 

The act of turning on our spiritual radar: “Be careful” means that we should conduct a detailed spiritual self-examination every day—checking whether sinful habits are gaining a foothold within us and whether the heavy lumps of the world are accumulating in our hearts. It means carrying out a spiritual Self-Audit of our inner lives.

 

3.       Specific Lessons Given Through This Sentence

 

We must put away the eyes of criticism and open the eyes of self-examination: We often spend a great deal of energy discerning the evil of the world or evaluating other people.  But the Lord tells us to be careful about “heautous (yourselves).”  Today, we need to examine whether our prayers are focused first on repentance and self-reflection concerning our own souls rather than on evaluating others.

 

We must fill every moment with holy habits: The continual watchfulness demanded by Prosechete (present tense) (“Be careful”) cannot be accomplished by our willpower alone.  Creating a “prayer routine” in which we fix our eyes upon the Lord when we open our eyes in the morning, whenever we make choices throughout the day, and when we go to bed at night is a practical way to live out this command in our lives (Internet).

 

(b)    The second sentence is, “ἐν κραιπάλῃ καὶ μέθῃ καὶ μερίμναις βιωτικαῖς” (en kraipalē kai methē kai merimnais biōtikais) (“with dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life”).

 

This sentence exposes the three decisive causes that produce the “weighing down of the heart (barethōsin)” that we meditated on earlier.  When we examine the meanings of the original words, we see that these three words are not merely referring to moral corruption, but reveal a highly subtle, progressive trap that paralyzes the human soul.  Let us examine the three causes specifically and share their implications for meditation (Internet):

 

1.       The First Cause: κραιπάλῃ (kraipalē) — Physical Dissipation and Spiritual Hangover

 

Original meaning: This word originated as a medical term referring to the “severe hangover, headache, and nausea” experienced the day after drinking too much alcohol.  Throughout the Bible, this word is used figuratively to describe a state in which the soul becomes dizzy and confused because of sensual pleasures and excessive indulgence—that is, dissipation.

 

Meditative meaning: A person suffering from a hangover has a headache and an upset stomach and is unable to do anything. In the same way, when we become deeply addicted to the pleasures, entertainment, and physical gratification of the world, we fall into a serious spiritual hangover.  It becomes a cause that prevents us from hearing the Lord’s Word and produces extreme spiritual lethargy.

 

2.       The Second Cause: μέθῃ (methē) — Drunkenness That Causes Loss of Reason and Spiritual Intoxication

 

Original meaning: It means habitual and uncontrollable “drunkenness” or a “state of intoxication.”  It refers to a condition in which a person loses self-control and comes under the control of alcohol.

 

Meditative meaning: When a person is drunk, judgment becomes clouded, and the person may walk down a dangerous path while mistakenly believing that he or she is safe.  When we become intoxicated by the ways of the world and by materialism, we easily tear down our spiritual boundaries, saying, “This much should be okay.”  It causes us to examine whether we are filled with the Spirit of the Lord (Eph. 5:18), or whether we are intoxicated by the values of the world and the mythology of success.

 

3.       The Third Cause: μερίμναις βιωτικαῖς (merimnais biōtikais) — A Divided Heart and the Worries of Life

 

Original meaning: This expression has a very powerful spiritual resonance because of the combination of these two words.

 

Merimna (μέριμνα): It comes from a verb meaning “to divide” or “to tear apart” and refers to a state in which the heart is torn and divided into countless pieces—worry.

 

Biōtikos (βιωτικός): It refers to bios (life)—the biological life of living on this earth, eating, clothing oneself, and surviving.

 

Meditative meaning: If the first two—dissipation and drunkenness—are primarily problems for “people who pursue pleasure,” this third one is the most formidable enemy of “Christians who faithfully live from day to day.”  When the heart is torn into countless pieces by immediate concerns about making a living, educating children, preparing for old age, work-related stress, and so forth, the spiritual energy that should be gathered toward the Lord is depleted, and eventually the heart becomes weighed down.

 

4.       The Integrated Lesson and Connection Among the Three Causes

 

These three words listed by the Lord are closely connected and gradually eat away at our souls.

 

Pleasure and worry are two sides of the same coin: When people become torn apart and stressed by the worries of life (merimnais biōtikais), they often hide themselves in worldly pleasures and dissipation (kraipalē, methē) in order to escape from or forget those worries.

 

We must beware of the prison of “ἐν (en)”: The preposition “en (ἐν)” at the beginning of this sentence means being “inside” or “confined within” something.  If we are not careful (prosechete), we can become trapped inside the enormous prison of dissipation, drunkenness, and worry and become spiritually blind, unable to see the day when the Lord comes (Internet).

 

(i)         Here, I cannot help but think about “the worries of life” [μερίμναις βιωτικαῖς (merimnais biōtikais)], which are the most formidable enemy of “Christians who faithfully live from day to day.” The reason is that countless Christians are having their hearts torn into thousands of pieces because of immediate concerns about making a living, educating their children, preparing for retirement, work-related stress, and so forth. How, then, are we to “be careful ourselves” about these “worries of life”?

 

The AI proposed three biblical and practical ways to apply the command we meditated on earlier, “Be careful yourselves (prosechete: fix the steering of your gaze upon the Lord),” specifically to the worries of life (Internet):

 

a.       Training to Transfer the “Sovereignty of Survival” (from Bios to Zōē)

 

The word bios (βίος), from which “life (biōtikais)” in “the worries of life” is derived, refers simply to biological survival—the physical life of eating, clothing oneself, earning money, and so forth.

 

How to be careful: In Matthew 6, the Lord said, “Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will wear.”  Each morning, we confess that the sovereignty over our lives belongs not to our own abilities or to the balance in our bank account, but to God.

 

Fixing our gaze: When we connect our bios (biological life) to zōē (ζωή), God’s eternal life, we can break the chains of anxiety that arise from the fear of survival.

 

b.       Focusing on the One “Powerful One Thing” That Gathers the Fragments of the Heart (Healing Merimna)

 

The word merimna (μέριμνα), meaning worry, describes a heart being torn in every direction.  It is the state of allowing countless fragments of thought—money, children, the future, work, and so forth—to dominate our minds.

 

How to be careful: The only way to heal a torn heart is to gather the focus of the heart around “the one most important thing.”  Jesus said to Martha, whose heart was anxious and distracted by many things, “You are worried and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary; Mary has chosen the good part” (Lk. 10:42).

 

Fixing our gaze: Whenever we feel that our hearts are about to be torn into thousands of pieces, we need to practice firmly dropping the anchor of prayer by saying, “God, today I lay down my worries about the future that I cannot control, and in this present moment I choose only one thing: to do Your will.”

 

c.       Immediately Converting Worry into “Raw Material for Prayer”

 

The Apostle Paul presents a very specific mechanism for dealing with these worries of life and “being careful (prosechete)” in Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious (merimna) about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition …”

 

How to be careful: We cannot prevent worries from coming to us in the first place.  But the key to guarding ourselves is to immediately transform worry into a “prayer request” before it begins to weigh down (barethōsin) our hearts.

 

Fixing our gaze: When the worry “What if I don’t have enough money?” comes to mind, do not hold on to it and meditate on it. Immediately turn in another direction and transform it into the prayer, “God, please be my provider.”  The moment we transform worry into prayer, the energy that was tearing the heart apart is transformed into spiritual strength directed toward the Lord.

 

Summary for Meditation:

To “be careful ourselves” about the worries of life means that when the waves of worry come crashing in, we firmly grasp the helm of our hearts (prosechete) and turn our direction toward the Lord’s faithfulness.  When we lay down the heavy burden of trying to take perfect responsibility, through our own strength, for our children, our retirement, our work, and everything else, the heart finally becomes light, and we can prepare ourselves to stand before the Lord (Internet).

 

(c)    Thirdly, I would like to meditate more specifically on “that day” [ἡ ἡμέρα (hē hēmera)] (Lk. 21:34), which will come unexpectedly [αἰφνίδιος (aiphnidios)] like a trap [παγίς (pagis)], and on “this day” (v. 35), which will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

 

1.       The original meaning of the words and a deeper meditation

 

①      αἰφνίδιος (aiphnidios): unexpectedly, unpredictably

 

Etymological meaning: This word comes from a term meaning “invisible” or “something sudden.”

 

Essential meaning: It does not simply mean “fast” in terms of time, but rather “to come suddenly and unexpectedly in a way that human intelligence or knowledge cannot possibly predict.”

 

Meditational meaning: The day when the Lord comes (or the end of an individual’s life) is not something that can be predicted like a weather forecast.  It will come without warning in an ordinary moment of everyday life—while we are eating, going to work, or being buried in our worries.  Therefore, this word calls us to maintain constant spiritual alertness, living “as though today were the last day of our lives.”

 

②      παγίς (pagis): trap, snare (the original wording of verse 35)

 

Etymological meaning: Derived from a verb meaning “to fasten firmly” or “to bind,” it refers to a “chain or snare trap” firmly secured to the ground to catch an animal.

 

Essential meaning: This trap has two characteristics.  First, it is completely “hidden” until it springs upon its victim.  Second, once an animal is caught, it is “absolutely unable to escape” by its own strength.

Meditational meaning: People of the world do not see the trap hidden in the ground; they simply run toward the bait in front of them—sensual indulgence and the worries of daily life.  Then, when “that day” comes, they will regret it and cry out like an animal caught in a snare, but by then there will already be no opportunity to escape.  The only way to avoid the trap is not to walk while looking only at the ground (the values of the world), but to lift our eyes and look toward the Lord.

 

③      ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη (hē hēmera ekeinē): that day (v. 34) / “this day” (v. 35)

 

Etymological meaning: The definite article “hē” (ἡ), the word “hēmera” (ἡμέρα), meaning “day,” and the demonstrative pronoun “ekeinē” (ἐκείνη, “that”) are combined to point to “that specific day that Scripture has continually prophesied about.”

 

Essential meaning: This is not simply one of the countless days in history, but the Day—the final day of judgment and salvation when the curtain of history closes and all humanity will stand individually before the Creator.

 

The universality of “this day” in verse 35: The Lord says that this day will come “upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”  Regardless of status, wealth or poverty, social standing, race, or religion, no one will be able to hide from the reach of this day. It possesses an absolute universality with no exceptions.

 

2.       The Christian’s attitude toward “that day” and “this day”

 

When we put these words together, the Lord is contrasting two completely different attitudes toward life.

 

For those who live with their stakes firmly planted in the world, it is a “trap”: The expression “those who dwell” in verse 35 is kathemenous (καθημένους) in the original language.  It does not merely mean to live somewhere, but describes a condition of sitting down on the earth and settling there comfortably.  For those who sit down and settle as though this earth were eternal—accumulating money, becoming excessively concerned with their children’s education, and making only retirement preparations—“that day” becomes a terrifying “trap” that takes everything away.

For those who remain awake as pilgrims, it is a “day of salvation”: But for Christians who every morning “prosēchete” (fix their eyes upon the Lord), remove the heavy weights from their hearts, and remain lightly and spiritually awake, “that day” is not a trap.  Rather, it becomes the greatest day of celebration—the day when this earthly life filled with tears and worries finally ends, and they are at last embraced in the arms of their beloved Lord.

 

Meditational conclusion:

The Lord did not give us these words to terrify us.  Rather, He is sounding a loving warning siren so that we will not become caught in the traps of the world’s perishable worries and pleasures and thereby lose what is eternal (Internet).

 

(i)     Here, when I think about the unexpected [αἰφνίδιος (aiphnidios)] death of a beloved family member or friend, I long even more deeply for the wisdom of living “as though today were the last day of my life.”  The reason is that I believe we do not always have the opportunity to love our family members or friends.

 

           To put it more bluntly, we must love our family members and friends, and others, from the perspective of death.  However, I think the devil continually lays “traps” [παγίς (pagis)] for us so that we fail to seize opportunities to love and repeatedly lose opportunities to express our love.  What are the specific traps that the devil lays, and how can we avoid those traps so that we can love our neighbors as ourselves according to the Lord’s commandment?

 

a.       Three specific “traps (παγίς)” that the devil lays in relationships

 

Trap ① The trap of the eternal illusion called “Tomorrow”

 

The devil’s strategy: The devil does not tell us not to love. Rather, he simply whispers, “Do it tomorrow; do it later when you have more time.”  He plants an unfounded sense of security in us that our family and friends will naturally still be there tomorrow, causing us to remain settled in complacency indefinitely.

 

Spiritual result: When we fall into this trap, we keep postponing saying “I’m sorry,” “Thank you,” or expressing “I love you.”  Eventually, when the day of separation comes “unexpectedly,” we are left with irreversible regret and lingering sorrow.

 

Trap ② The trap of “entitlement” and familiarity

 

The devil’s strategy: He causes us to regard the efforts and sacrifices of those closest to us as “something we should naturally receive.”  The closer someone is to us, the more easily we speak hurtful words instead of treating them with courtesy, and we apply stricter standards to our family while being generous toward others.

 

Spiritual result: Like the condition of “sitting down on the earth” (kathemenous) in verse 35, we settle down in the familiarity of our relationships and fall into spiritual insensitivity.  We forget that the person beside us is one of the most precious gifts God has sent us.

 

Trap ③ The legitimate trap of “busyness” and exhaustion

 

The devil’s strategy: He makes the most active use of the “worries of daily life” (merimnais biōtikais) that we meditated on earlier.  Using the problems of making a living, workplace stress, and fatigue as excuses, we say, “I’m so tired right now.  Let’s talk later,” and shut off our communication and attention toward our family.

 

Spiritual result: Although our bodies are in the same house, our hearts become completely isolated.  Hiding behind the justification that we are working diligently, we exhaust the energy needed to care for and love the souls of the people who are actually most precious to us.

 

b.       Spiritual practices for avoiding the devil’s traps and loving “today”

In order to break the devil’s traps and love our neighbors and family as ourselves according to the Lord’s commandment, we need a powerful “fixing of our gaze” (prosēchete).

 

Guideline ① Put on the lens of the “last meeting” (fixing your gaze)

 

Practice: When you leave home in the morning and look at your family, or when you hang up the phone with a friend, think just once in your heart: “This may be the last moment I ever see this person.”

 

Effect: When we look at someone from the perspective of death, feelings of irritation or hurt that existed moments before can disappear like snow melting in the sun.  Things that seemed impossible to forgive become insignificant, and we choose the words we speak in that moment as “the warmest words of love.”

 

Guideline ② Establish the principle of the “immediacy of love” (break the trap of “later”)

 

Practice: When a feeling of gratitude, an apology, or a desire to encourage someone crosses your mind, act within five seconds.

 

Do not say, “I’ll tell them when I get home.” Instead, immediately send a text saying, “Thank you” or “I love you.”

 

When you see a family member face-to-face, make eye contact and immediately say, “You worked so hard today.”

 

Effect: This is active spiritual defense—dropping a “bomb of love” before the devil has an opportunity to set his trap of “do it later.”

 

Guideline ③ Set aside “intentional space and time” for relationships (break the trap of busyness)

Practice: Even if it is only one hour a week, completely turn off your smartphone and create a “sacred time” in which you devote yourself entirely to your family or friends.  This is not simply a time to talk about yourself, but a time to listen to what their pain and worries are.

 

Effect: In a world where our hearts are being torn into tens of thousands of pieces (merimna), a “holy anchoring of love” takes place, in which we fully accept and embrace our precious loved ones just as the Lord has accepted us.

 

Meditational conclusion:

The devil’s trap (pagis) is sharp and hidden, but before the wisdom of death that says, “Today may be the last day,” and the decision that says, “I will love now,” it has no power and is broken.  When we stand before the Son of Man, the Lord will not ask us, “How impressive were the achievements you left behind?” but rather, “How much did you love the precious people I entrusted to you?” (Internet).

 

(d)    Fourthly, as I meditate on Jesus’ words, “Therefore, 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” [ἀγρυπνεῖτε δὲ ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ δεόμενοι ἵνα κατισχύσητε ἐκφυγεῖν ταῦτα πάντα τὰ μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι, καὶ σταθῆναι ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (agrypneite de en panti kairō deomenoi hina katischysēte ekphygein tauta panta ta mellonta ginesthai, kai stathēnai emprosthen tou huiou tou anthrōpou)] (Lk. 21:36), I would like to receive the lessons He gives us.

 

1.       The original meaning of the words and a deeper meditation

 

①      ἀγρυπνεῖτε (agrypneite): driving away sleep and keeping watch

 

Etymological meaning: This word combines a prefix meaning “not” with hypnos (ὕπνος), meaning “sleep.”  Thus, it means “to forcefully drive away sleep and remain awake through the night.”

 

Meditational meaning: The indulgence and worries of daily life that we meditated on earlier administer a kind of “spiritual sleeping pill” to our souls.  Without realizing it, they cause us to fall into an eternal spiritual sleep.  Agrypneite is a powerful warning to keep our eyes wide open and maintain spiritual tension so that our souls do not fall asleep under the influence of the comforts of the world, just as a soldier on guard duty keeps watch during the night.

 

②      ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ δεόμενοι (en panti kairō deomenoi): pleading at every opportunity

 

Etymological meaning: Among the Greek words for time, kairos (καιρός) is used here—not the physical time that continually passes, but the “decisive moment, the spiritually significant opportunity” in which God is working.

 

Meditational meaning: This does not simply mean that we should repeatedly pray every time the hands of the clock move.  It means that whenever a crisis comes into our lives, whenever anxiety overwhelms us, or whenever the devil lays a trap in our relationships, at precisely that “moment (kairos)” we should first kneel and earnestly seek the Lord’s help. Prayer is the only heavenly communication network that can neutralize the devil’s traps.

 

③      κατισχύσητε (katischysēte): to receive strength sufficient to overcome

 

Etymological meaning: It combines a preposition meaning “to overpower” with ischys (ἰσχύς), meaning “strength” or “power.”  It means “to be supplied with a greater strength that can overpower the opponent and to overcome abundantly.”

 

Meditational meaning: By our own willpower or morality, we can never escape the tribulations to come or the devil’s traps.  However, when we remain awake and pray, an “heavenly supernatural power (katischysēte)” is poured out from above—power more than sufficient to lightly overcome the gravity and temptations of the world.

 

④      σταθῆναι ἔμπροσθεν (stathēnai emprosthen): to stand confidently before the Son of Man

 

Etymological meaning: Stathēnai is the passive form of a verb meaning “to stand upright.” It carries a judicial meaning: “to be made to stand upright, firmly and confidently, without being condemned before the judge.”

 

Meditational meaning: On the day of judgment, we are not those who crawl fearfully upon the ground or hide ourselves.  Because of the blood of Jesus Christ and the faith with which we fixed our eyes upon Him, we will face the Lord standing upright in joy, receiving the praise, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  This is the Christian’s ultimate glory.

 

2.       The final lesson given through this sentence

 

Prayer is a time for aligning our “spiritual compass”: To pray “en panti kairō (at every opportunity)” means to ask the Lord about His sovereignty over every area of our lives.  When we open our eyes in the morning, meet people, and whenever worries come rushing toward us, if we align our compass toward Jesus through prayer, the traps laid by the devil will be exposed clearly, as though they had been detected by radar, and we will be able to avoid them with strength to spare.

 

We must live today “in order to stand”: Our ultimate destination is not to become rich or successful on this earth.  On the final day of history, or on the day of our own personal end, “standing upright before the Son of Man (Jesus)” (stathēnai) should be the one and only goal of our lives.  A person whose goal is clear receives the wisdom and courage to love the family members and friends God has given us today wholeheartedly, from the “perspective of death.”

 

Overall conclusion of the meditation on the original language of Luke 21:34–36:

 

[Danger] Indulgence, drunkenness, and the worries of daily life that tear sincere and faithful people apart (merimnais biōtikais) make our hearts heavy (barethōsin).

 

[The devil’s strategy] Taking advantage of this vulnerability, the devil lays traps (pagis) in our relationships and lives so that we cannot see the day that will come unexpectedly (aiphnidios) and so that we lose opportunities to love.

[Our defense] Therefore, we must constantly be careful (prosēchete) and fix the rudder of our souls firmly upon the Lord.

 

[Final victory] When we drive away sleep, remain awake (agrypneite), and pray continually each day, we receive overwhelming strength from above (katischysēte), enabling us to escape every trap and finally stand gloriously (stathēnai) before the Lord (Internet).