LOOK IN THE SPIRITUAL MIRROR

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth 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 refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”

Revelation 3:17-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever met anyone who did nothing but boast about their successes and gains in life?

Maybe you have done it yourself for when we do well for ourselves, it’s so easy to fall into the temptation of self absorption, self promotion and self worship. After all, we work hard in life to do well financially and have the things we desire but unchecked, this life approach can lead us to a point where we might relax and enjoy the fruits of our labors. Whether we reach that point early in life or get to where we can retire, something deep inside seems to call us to get to where we can say from a worldly perspective:

"I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!"

As Christians, Jesus calls us to exercise caution when it comes to this matter of focusing on the world’s treasures in the pursuit of wealth and possessions. Here’s what we find in his first extended teaching known as the Sermon on the Mount:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 7:19-21

Here, we find Jesus sending a warning that there is danger in placing excessive attention on what we attain in the world, emphasizing our material gain at the expense of looking at our character and the kind of person we are in Him. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", and so the operative questions all Christian believers need to ask is, “What is my treasure?” and “What have I attached my heart to the most, the world and its offerings or the guaranteed gift of salvation and life eternal with my Savior, the treasures of Heaven?”

Unfortunately, there were many believers in the church of Philadelphia, as there have been through the ages to present times, who have made their money and assets acquired through that money as their treasure. They see their personal value on what they have and their status in the world at the expense of realizing they are really spiritually bankrupt.

Jesus sums this up in these words:

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17

The acquisition of the world’s riches are counter to what Jesus to offers anyone who places their belief in Him. He reminds the Philadelphian believers and us of this as He continues in this passage:

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

The riches that Jesus is talking about is the purity, holiness, and righteousness that only comes when someone fully centers their life’s attention and heart’s devotion on Him, submitting themselves to His refining work. Like a metallurgist who heats gold into a molten state so to skim off all the impurities that rise to the top, so too does our Lord seek to remove the impurities of our faith, dressing us with “white clothes to wear” as we walk alongside Him every day His desire is for us to be rich in Him so we can “cover” our “shameful nakedness” and receive the kind of spiritual vision that sees Jesus and the everlasting life we have in Him as the only affluency that truly matters.

Jesus strongly rebukes the Christians in Laodicia and perhaps that rebuke is speaking to you as well today. And it wasn’t that He was condemning out of malice or ill intent. Rather, He lets the church (and us) know that what He did in discipline and counsel was “out of love”. He wanted to get the attention of His disciples so they would earnestly look in the spiritual mirror of their lives and repent, turning away from the treasure of the world and toward the real value in life found in Him.

When it comes right down to it, it will never be your well paying job or the accumulated wealth you have gained that matters most. It won’t be the size of your home, the expensive car you drive, or the luxurious trips you take all around this earth. All that matters is whether or not you are rich in Jesus and He wants you to experience the bounties of treasures found in Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.