Prayer – Lord, lukewarm water is just not thirst quenching. Ice cold water on one of these hot summer afternoons is so refreshing—and so is a hot cup of tea on a cold evening. But lukewarm…ugh! I see why You said You would “spit out” the people. Show me Lord if, when and where I am “lukewarm” in my life towards You or others. I get it that the way I treat others is the way I’m treating You. I’d like to think that I need to treat You special…but in reality, You are in others—especially other Christians—so I need to be treating everyone the same…just as if they were You. I value my relationship with You…and with others. I don’t want to discard, or spit out, any of my Christian brothers or sisters…and especially not You. Thank you for these lessons from the Seven Churches of Revelation.
Meditate. Read God’s word and listen to what He is saying. (More
on Laodicea tomorrow.)
Have you ever called Jesus “Amen?” Seems like a funny name for our Lord and Savior.
Amen means “so be it.” Yet that does seem appropriate—He is a being—He is the
Being! Other names Jesus calls Himself here is “Faithful and True Witness.”
That is true Jesus is the ever faithful one—ultimately obedient to God. Note that
He also identifies Himself as the “beginning of God’s new creation.” From this we
can deduce that Jesus was created by God the Father in the Beginning. The
Beginning of Creation. In the Beginning was God. Jesus is God and Jesus is the
Word. This is a difficult concept to grasp.
In the
beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him. John 1:1-3
As Jesus addresses the church at Laodicea, He tells them He know
everything they do.
He
punishes the nations—won't he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn't he
also know what you are doing? Psalm 94:10
The people of this church feel like they are rich and have
everything they need. Sound familiar? Many Americans…and others around the
world…are just like them. We have everything we need—but look at how many
people are still miserable, poor and blind in spirit. Naked, too. Jesus advices
that these people buy gold from Him. That’s pretty good considering that the main
street of the New Jerusalem is made of gold (Revelation 21:21). He says for
them to buy white robes to cover their nakedness. White robes are for priests…and
I thought those were given to people who are believers? We can’t buy salvation.
Why would we be able to buy white robes? There is a lot to ponder here in
Revelation. Consider that the robes are white because of the blood of Jesus.
Then one
of the twenty-four elders asked me, "Who are these who are clothed in
white? Where did they come from?" And I said to him, "Sir, you are
the one who knows." Then he said to me, "These are the ones who died
in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the
Lamb and made them white. That is why they stand in front of God's throne
and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will
give them shelter. They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never
be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their
Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe
every tear from their eyes." Revelation 7:13-17 (Underlined for
emphasis.)
These are the people who are neither hot nor cold…just lukewarm.
They aren’t excited about life…or Jesus—just ambivalent. Not caring much about
anything. Do you ever feel that way? I sometimes do—and yet, I realize that is what
God abhors. Jesus said He would spit them out. He doesn’t want anything to do
with mediocre, tasteless people. If you find yourself in that category, then it
is time for a change. The way the world is now, that change better occur soon.
Personally, I can think of a couple areas in my own life that need an attitude
adjustment. God is most concerned about our attitude. If we don’t please Him and
are not willing to serve Him, we could be cast into the outer darkness, like
the useless servant in Jesus’ parable of the talents.
Now throw
this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Matthew 25:30
As always, the choice, the decision is ours. Jesus loves and disciplines all those who love Him. It is our choice to be diligent and turn from our indifference. Sound like another form of repentance. Jesus keeps reminding us that we need to repent. Amen.
Verse of Salvation ~ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to
count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front
of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held
palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar,
"Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the
Lamb!" Revelation 7:9-10
© 2023 Text, photos, and
illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New
Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright ©
1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale
House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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