The book of Hebrews describes us as pilgrims on a journey to the Promised Land. Some have died while walking the journey, having seen glimpses and revelations of the fulfillment of the promise from afar off (Heb 11:13).
The journey is an arduous one and often we encounter oases of pleasure in the dry, dusty deserts of our lives. However, they are merely fleeting mirages, temporary distractions to keep us from attaining our goal. Jesus warned His disciples against trying to serve two masters, namely God and Mammon (Mat 6:24). He said it is an impossible task, a balance that could never be achieved. We therefore have to be careful that the pleasures of this world do not become a holiday resort into which we check in and never wish to leave!
In this world, it is easy to fall into the trap of seeking fame and fortune and a person is often judged solely on the pride and accompanying pomp of his chosen profession. As a result, many people spend their lives chasing after money, placing all their security and confidence in it. A job becomes not a means for making a living, but the reason for life itself! God gave us the gift of a honest day’s work to keep us out of trouble, but we have turned it into the source of most of our troubles!
As a result of this, we lead mostly sedentary lifestyles and suffer the consequences of poor health. Like the church of Laodicea described in Revelation, we have heaped up for ourselves gold and silver and we think we no longer need God. (Rev 3:17).We put our confidence in the world’s great marketplaces that can implode at any time, instead of putting our confidence in the Lord who was, and is, and is to come!
Our churches have become akin to social clubs, devoid of active service and training in righteousness and compassion. We have become “pew warmers”, having a form of religion and denying the power thereof (2 Tim 3:5). We think that we have done our duty when we have attended church on Sabbath and given our tithes and offerings. We no longer go out into the world as missionaries looking for opportunities to tell others about God while going about our daily tasks as was done in the early church. Instead we leave this to the missionaries on the frontlines and the pastors in the church. We can see the sad results of an inactive laity all around us-people who are not active in the kingdom of God have more time to dabble in sin and more time to succumb to temptation. The world is today “as it was in the days of Noah” when violence and immorality was rife. Jesus said it would be so, shortly before His return. (Luke 17:26-28)
Jesus cautioned us to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation. We have fallen asleep! We are indecisive, neither hot nor cold, yet God wants us to make a decision and take a stand (Rev 3:15-16). Let us pray that God would anoint our eyes with the eye salve spoken of in Revelation, that we may be cured of our blindness and realize our need for Him and our need to work for His Kingdom and not our own!
"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent."-Rev 3:14-19
