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Revelation 3: 17, 18 (NIV)
“You say, ‘I am rich . . . and
do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful,
poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold . . . so you can
become rich; and white clothes . . . so you can cover your nakedness; and salve
to put on your eyes, so you can see.”
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| Self-sufficiency is the fatal danger of a lukewarm state.* |
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Remember the fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes? Some con
men convinced everyone in the kingdom that they could fashion a new wardrobe
for the emperor that only the wisest people could see. No one wanted to be
thought stupid so everyone pretended to admire the emperor’s outfit as he
paraded around town, until some child, too young to be concerned about what others
thought, calls out, “But he’s not wearing any clothes!”
Satan, the world’s greatest con man, had convinced the
church members at Laodicea that they were rich and didn’t need a thing. “They had evidently mistaken
‘the good life’ for the righteous life.”* God says to them,
through his revelation to John: Not only are you not rich, you are pathetic,
blind, and naked. They professed to be Christians but in their rampant
materialism they failed to notice that they were “out of communion with
Christ.”*
The Laodiceans are not the only ones who ever fell for
Satan’s scams. Theirs is the condition of all who are trusting in something
other than Jesus Christ. But just as “self-sufficient Laodicea”* is called to repentance (verse 19), God also offers us the chance to cover our
nakedness, become rich, and to see again. Learn to value the things that God
values – such as faith refined by fire; purity; and spiritual discernment.
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| The appearance of affluence and self-sufficiency can often blind us to deeper spiritual needs.* |
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