RICH IN JESUS

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In Christ, Mark

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

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!

Revelation 2:8-9a

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

These words from Jesus speak volumes about our life, first in this world and then in Him. First, let’s look at our life in the world.

The words from Jesus, "I know your poverty and suffering" addressed the plight of the people of the church in Smyrna. Affluency wasn’t their superpower for sure, anymore than it is for a multitude of Christian believers today here on earth. Indeed, Jesus disciples through the ages since John wrote down these words have gone through a similar plight than their Christ-focused ancestors of first century A.D. and this is why this verse and a half of scripture is so important for we find our Savior speaking two important truths to His followers.

First, Jesus knows us and what we’re going through.

He’s fully with us, for us, and caring for us. There isn’t anything that happens to us that is out of His sight. Anytime the enemy tries to sow the lie that He is distant, we need to remember that He told us that He would be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). The truth is that He stands by us, ever ready to assist so we can carry out His will.

All this reminds me of the famous writing titled "Footprints in the Sand". You may recall that the narrator speaks about walking through his life with Jesus on the beach, each of them leaving their set of footprints in the sand. Then, during a particularly difficult time, the man notices that there is only one set of footprints in the sand and he questions Jesus as to how He could have abandoned him when he needed Him most. You may know the end of this story for Jesus calmly explains that the single set of footprints in the sand was not the man’s but rather His for it was during the period of hardship that Jesus was carrying him through.

As afflictions and poverties fall on us in life, let’s remember that Jesus never lets us go through it alone.

The second important point in this passage is that Jesus testifies as to how much He loves and cares for us. For by not turning a blind eye to our circumstances, He lets us know we count, that He values us greatly and I don’t think I have ever met a person who doesn’t want to feel this.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, our Savior isn’t indifferent to what we go through. Rather, He knows our troubles and is ever working to help us in the midst of them, all out of compassion and genuine concern for our well being.

So in this world, we may face difficulty but Jesus is aware and present, always with us in a spirit of love and support. In Him, we will always be rich, in this life and in the eternal one yet to come, no matter what our worldly circumstances bring. This richness is found not in the wealth of the world but rather the very divine prosperity of the Kingdom of Heaven of which every single Christian is a co-heir of with Jesus (Romans 8:14-17).

This is what Jesus wanted the believers of the Smyrna church, and us today, to remember. For through the blessed assurance of victory over death, the grave, evil, and sin, we have an abundance of riches that no one can steal from us, riches made possible by the One who came to give true life and give it to the full (John 10:10).

Let us rejoice and be glad over this good news today and every day.

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.