He Reigns
Bible reading
14 ‘To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
– Revelation 3:14-22 NIVUK
Devotional
I was sitting on bed crying, my Mom sitting beside me, reminding me of exactly where I had gone wrong. I don’t remember what I had done wrong, but whatever it was, Mom thought it was important that I acknowledged it, understood the consequences that would follow, and then apologize and not repeat the action. She ended her talk with: «I don’t want to discipline you, but I need to because I love you!» As a child of five I thought to myself: «If you really don’t want to discipline me don’t, I’m sure there are other ways to love me!» But now, as an adult and as a Mom, I have learned the importance of discipline and also the process of reflection and evaluation.
The Church in Laodicea had become very self-sufficient. They had made a fortune in the fashion industry; they had a break-through eye cream; and although they didn’t have a natural water supply they had water piped to them from two different cities. The problem for Jesus was that they had become so comfortable with what they had that they forgot what they needed!
They needed to reflect on their relationship with Jesus. If they had done that they would have discovered that they had become complacent and apathetic. They weren’t a refreshing church that offered relief to those who were thirsty for Jesus. Nor were they weren’t a soothing church that could offer healing to those who were broken. They were just “there” but they were unable to offer anything of value to anyone!
They also needed to reflect on their wealth! Instead of feeling secure in their wealth, Jesus wanted them to understand that they would only be truly rich if their hearts were full of treasure, and not just their bank accounts. But they had become so self-sufficient that they began to believe that they didn’t need Jesus at all, for anything.
Does it sound like our society? Have we become too comfortable with our financial stability, our health system, our self-sustainability that we wonder if we really need Jesus at all? “For what?”, we think, “We have everything we need!”. But do we?
Jesus stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. He doesn’t break down the door nor demand to enter in, he just knocks and waits for our invitation. He wants access to our hearts and minds. He wants to be our accountant, our doctor, and our financial advisor. He wants us to be filled with His love, and not with “stuff”. He longs for us to heal the Nations and bring them to Jesus, not just focus on ourselves. And He wants us to know the riches of his glorious kingdom, not just see our bank accounts with a lot of reserves.
So today, as difficult it might be, let’s allow Jesus to rebuke and discipline us because we know he loves us. Let us be bold enough to take an honest look at our lives, repent of where we’ve become self-sufficient and allow Jesus to meet our every need.
– Connie Main Duarte
This devotional is part of a series that helps us navigate the texts of the book of Revelation with fresh eyes. A new devotional every Saturday.
These devotionals are available in Portuguese and in English.