Skip to main content

Wake Up!

            These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Revelation 3:1-3)

 

            The  “seven spirits” is also translated “sevenfold spirit.” Seven is often used to express perfection. Anything we might say about that would be conjecture, so let’s move on to what is plainer. Jesus knew the deeds of the church in Sardis, just as He knows our deeds and the deeds of our churches. Apparently, Sardis was a church of some reputation, but they were resting on their laurels, sitting back and coasting.

            How often are we like Sardis? Jesus’ advice to them might be a good place to begin every morning or at least every week.

            Wake up! Be conscious, aware, and capable of responding.

            Strengthen what remains and is about to die. Perform triage on and in your life. Address the things that are doing you harm.

            Finish what is undone.

            Remember what you have received and heard.

            Hold fast to what you have received and heard.

            Repent.

            These are steps to a self-assessment. They can also be set forth as a series of questions we can take to God in our prayers. Is there an area in which we as sleeping? What needs to be strengthened or revived? What is undone? What have I received and heard? What am I doing about it, or what should I be doing about it? What have I received that I am letting slip away? How do I need to repent?

            Keep in mind that repentance isn’t always sitting in sackcloth and ashes, wailing about horribly wrong we were. It may not involve emotions at all. Re means “again.” Pent involves what goes through your mind. It means “thinking again” or changing your mind.

            What would happen if you paid attention to yourself for 30 minutes per week, effectively doing what (in the business world) a SWOT analysis, looking at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – seeing where you stand and considering where you want to stand by the end of the week?

  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more