The Dangers of "Overcharged"

In the New Testament as Jesus instructs his disciples, He continually urges them to live in Truth. He doesn’t use the words “Live in Truth” but the principles are His. One of the things we’ve talked about that is necessary to live in Truth is to keep your thoughts and attitudes out of the Pit of Illusion because if you are in the Pit of Illusion it is difficult to hear the voice of the Spirit guiding and teaching you. And that is exactly what the Savior admonishes after He teaches the people of the impending doom that will befall Jerusalem after his death. “Take heed to yourselves,” He tells them, “lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34).

This advice is as valuable today as it was 2,000 years ago. The word drunk means “dominated by an intense feeling.” That intense feeling can be caused by alcohol or it can be caused by anger or rage concerning such things as the government, disappointing events of life, or the behavior of other people. The word surfeiting means “to indulge to satiety in a gratification.” That gratification doesn’t necessarily have to be something bad. Many people get sidetracked from the path of righteousness by becoming overly concerned with good things as physical fitness, running their children’s lives, developing talents, or doing other good things. When those things become the focus of our lives then we lose focus of the Truths that matter most.

If our hearts are “overcharged,” or in other words vexed, with drunkenness, surfeiting, or simply the cases of this life, we are in the Pit of Illusion and it becomes very, very difficult to feel the promptings of the Spirit. As the Savior warns, in that condition we will not be prepared for the days of trial. But if we live in Truth and keep focused on Light and Truth, we will be saved. As the Savior tells us, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).