Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise.
Be earnest, therefore, and repent.
The letters to the Churches in these readings from Revelation are not given in condemnation. They are given that the Churches might repent because "the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives" (see Hebrews 12:6). God wants to help us go deeper. We may be doing works that look complete to the world but which are still missing some essential element. We may look like Christians who have it all together and still be living out of our flesh. This is a fairly high risk situation. It is something about which we could easily fool ourselves. How fortunate that God won't leave us in this error. The LORD's voice can be known from the voice of the accuser because the LORD always speaks hope to us, always tells us how to return to him.
Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent.
The LORD wants complete works from a heart of faith. He insists that we not be lukewarm. We need to know that apart from Christ we do not have true riches. The trouble is that we often think we do. We think the worldly comfort we have, balanced by the occasional forays into religion, is all we need.
For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,'
and yet do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
The LORD invites us to discover the limits and flaws of ourselves apart from him. He does so in order that we might turn to him and receive truly things which we only wrongly believed ourselves to already possess.
I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich,
and white garments to put on
so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed,
and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.
We don't always readily see what we need, even when we're trying. The crowd is large and we are spiritually short in stature. Fortunately Jesus comes to us just as he does to Zacchaeus. It is a meeting of our deepest desires on the one hand and the fulfillment of those desires on the other. Apart from Jesus we content ourselves with lives marked by sins and a lack of love that both seem to be beyond our control. We are chief tax collectors and we extort from those around us. But when Jesus meets us true and profound conversion is possible. Our lukewarm lives and incomplete works can be completely changed.
Let us seek Jesus as does Zacchaeus. If we can't make it to him he will still not leave us in our sin. He will delight to enter into our houses, to make our works complete, and to set us on fire with love for him.
I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
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