We are trying to get to the heart of things and down to the very root the matter. The bottom line is there are many things that are ABOUT Jesus, but are NOT Jesus. Then there is Jesus Himself. When the things about Christ become more important than Christ Himself then we need to revisit who we are and what we are doing.
We live in the Laodicean age that is characterized by insipid lukewarmness and blindness to the truth of our own spiritual condition (cf. Revelation 3:1-19). The picture presented to us is one of Christ standing on the outside of things, knocking at the door, and waiting for someone to open the door to Him (cf. Revelation 3:20). Since this is written to the saints it cannot be construed as an invitation to sinners to "invite Jesus into their heart"; instead, it is the Lord calling upon the church to make Him the center again. The issue was, and still is fellowship, communion, and abiding - maintaining its relationship to the Head.
God's solution for a lukewarm, tasteless, colorless, odorless church is a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ. He will bring us back to our foundation. He will align us with His Purpose. He will adjust us back to Himself. God will purge, refine, chasten, and conform us to the image of His Son. But we must respond to His invitation and open the door.
O Christian, come back to Christ! Simplify your life, eliminate the "many things", count them as dung, and cling to the One Thing! Be reduced to Christ!
The Lord says, "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Revelation 3:21).
Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus.
3 comments:
oh yeah.....oh yeah....amen sister! pure devotion to christ lest we become tempted as eve....
Yah, the old "it looks good, smells good and tastes good, so it must be good"...kind of thinking..yuk...been there and done that..!
I can't believe how much we have in common..as I go through the writeup about yourself, there are so many parallels..everything from interests to favourite books, to LAUGHTER and HONEST COMMUNICATION..and people misunderstanding you, etc etc. I also have two boys..one 20 years and one 16 years. I do feel like we're sisters..and we've never met!
it is interesting that you said that. when you mentioned drinking coffee on your profile, i had to laugh - its my vice! going for coffee with friends...and you mentioned on brians blog that you feel like such a failure as a wife and mom - ha! if it is not for grace and HIS ability to restore ALL the years the locusts have stolen, i am SUNK....;o) here is my email if you want to continue a conversation beyond blog posts! karenclark1@verizon.net....*smile*
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