Revelation 3:20 reads 'Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.'
My daily reading for New Year's Eve was Revelation 3. I had read it many times before, but this time was different ...
My husband's new Study Guide explains that the letters to the seven churches can be read as messages to people who lived almost two thousand years ago, but suggests we would be more correct to read them as personal messages to those living today. Prophetically, the seven churches represent seven time periods giving us a panoramic view of church history running from Pentecost to the Rapture. Scholars agree that we are currently in the Laodicea Period.
And so I read with renewed interest ... what was Jesus saying to His church? What was He saying to me?
The message to the Church in Laodicea: "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!" Rev 3:15/16 He goes on to say that they we are comfortable. We have everything we want and we can't even see we are lacking. It's one thing to think Jesus was saying this to a geographical church in Laodicea long ago, but another to think these words are for His church TODAY!
Verse 19: 'So be diligent and turn from your indifference' precedes Jesus' call to open the door!! He was speaking to His CHURCH, not those who didn't know Him. He was speaking to ME! He was speaking to YOU! "YOUR INDIFFERENCE MAKES ME SICK! LET ME IN!"
I had to ask myself whether I have been 'working hard to show the results of my salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear' as Paul implores us in Phil 2:12 or have been indifferent? I realized I have taken God for granted, seeing my procrastination as a cute idiosyncrasy rather than disobedience. There are things He has asked me to do and I haven't done them yet!!
My daily reading for New Year's Eve was Revelation 3. I had read it many times before, but this time was different ...
My husband's new Study Guide explains that the letters to the seven churches can be read as messages to people who lived almost two thousand years ago, but suggests we would be more correct to read them as personal messages to those living today. Prophetically, the seven churches represent seven time periods giving us a panoramic view of church history running from Pentecost to the Rapture. Scholars agree that we are currently in the Laodicea Period.
And so I read with renewed interest ... what was Jesus saying to His church? What was He saying to me?
The message to the Church in Laodicea: "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!" Rev 3:15/16 He goes on to say that they we are comfortable. We have everything we want and we can't even see we are lacking. It's one thing to think Jesus was saying this to a geographical church in Laodicea long ago, but another to think these words are for His church TODAY!
Verse 19: 'So be diligent and turn from your indifference' precedes Jesus' call to open the door!! He was speaking to His CHURCH, not those who didn't know Him. He was speaking to ME! He was speaking to YOU! "YOUR INDIFFERENCE MAKES ME SICK! LET ME IN!"
I had to ask myself whether I have been 'working hard to show the results of my salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear' as Paul implores us in Phil 2:12 or have been indifferent? I realized I have taken God for granted, seeing my procrastination as a cute idiosyncrasy rather than disobedience. There are things He has asked me to do and I haven't done them yet!!
I am excited to see what God will do as I open the door and submit myself fully to Him this year. I resolve to be diligent in writing this blog and teaching Faithbooking. You can expect to hear much more from me in 2015.
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