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

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

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more