I know exactly what you are doing, when people are watching you and when they're not. And although you aren't against me, you're not really for me either. You're in the middle. You're wishy-washy and I can't really tell if you love me. I wish you were on fire for me so that your fervor would become contagious. I would even be OK if you weren't on fire for me. I would at least be able to convince you otherwise. So, because you're neither, I don't really want to have anything to do with you. You have your riches and now you don't think you need me, but you don't even realize how you need me now more than ever. I wish you would let me give you real treasure, and let me cover your shame, and let me show you the truth. I'm only telling you this because I love you. I always call and you never answer. I will keep calling until you answer. If you let me in, we could be together for eternity. But it's totally up to you.
Although that's not a direct quote, that pretty much sums up what Jesus said to the church of the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:14-22. What is the church of the Laodiceans? Glad you asked.
Laodicea was an ancient metropolis that resided in the village of Eski Hissar which is in Turkey. During the days of the early church, it was one of the seven seats of Christianity. But as the young people say, they fell off. Way off. This is evident in the reprimand that Jesus gave them in Revelation. He had nothing good to say about them, at all.
If you have read Revelation, you will see that towards the beginning of the book, Jesus addresses the seven churches of Asia Minor, the church of the Laodiceans being one of them. Jesus had at least one good thing to say about each of them, except the Laodicean church.
To some biblical scholars, the seven churches mentioned in Revelation symbolize seven church ages from the beginning of Christianity to the rapture of the Church. We are presently in the church age that some believe was symbolized by the Laodicean church, the church that will see the Rapture.
This would mean that if you considered yourself to be a part of the Church, the Ecclesia, the Body of Christ, Christ's bride, he's not very satisfied with us at the moment. It would break my heart if my wife said to me what Christ said to the Laodicean church. But that's only because I love her. If I didn't love her, I wouldn't care one way or another. So would you say that you love Christ? If you did, wouldn't you try to do better? I know that I would.
If you read the passage from Revelation 3:14, you will see that in a nutshell, Jesus is criticizing us, the Church, for turning away from him. Some of you may be saying that you haven't turned away from him, and glory to be to God if you can honestly say that. But what about your brother or sister in Christ? Have they turned away? Have you corrected them in love? If one of us is falling, we are all falling and coming short of the glory. We are our brother's (and sister's) keeper.
If you consider yourself to be the epitome of everything a Christian should be, that's nice. However, reality holds that it's really not like that for any of us. Because we live with that imperfection working against us, we already have our work cut out as far as trying to reel in non-believers. Why make that worse by not monitoring yourself around those who make be weaker Christians or not Christians at all?
You may not realize this, but as Christians, we are under constant scrutiny from those who wish not to accept the truth that the Lord has given us. We are walking Bibles to those who may not ever pick up one. We are little Gs for those who cannot stand in the presence of the Lord. We are ambassadors to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Ask yourself this, "If God was a president, and I was his ambassador to, say, the United States, would he be able to say I represent his nation well?" I'm pretty sure that if Obama needed to send an ambassador to Iran, he wouldn't pick some trash-talking, racist redneck who inhales beer and refers to every person of Middle Eastern decent as A-Rabs. That's real.
John 15:8 NIV says "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." It is important that we rep God to the fullest.
That's the whole point to our existence. Shocking, right? That's the real reason why so many fall into deep depression. They do everything they can to resist the true purpose of their existence. They have sex with whoever they want to. They go through drugs like a Walgreens. They chase Bentleys and diamonds and mansions. Then they curse God to his face when they realize how unhappy and unsatisfying their lives are. But those who seek the will of God find that their lives are very fulfilling.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 NIV
It's simple. We just need make sure that we are representing our King in a way that will make others fall in love with him. God isn't going to seem so appealing if we make our spiritual walks look like hoaxes. Keep it real.
J Dys
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