Year 3, Day 348: Revelation 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: This is the word that describes our relationship with God.  It is God that gives us our identity and our authority.  It is God that gives power to our submission to His mission.

In each of these four churches, we can see an example of the importance of Up:

• Ephesus knows how to test the spirits and endure for the sake of Christ.  However, they also have forgotten their first love.  It is easy to fall into a pattern of ministry where God’s love no longer shines through us as it should.  When our relationship with God falters, we can end up going through the motions for academic or ritualistic reasons rather than for God’s love.
• Smyrna is able to do great things because their relationship with God is what it should be.  They are able to endure persecution.  They are able to understand that they are rich regardless of their financial condition.  They are able to stand under slander.  They are even able to look death in the face and not blink.  Because their relationship with God is strong, they can look forward to the crown of life.
• In Pergamum, we see a group of people who are able to do the work of the Lord even though they are in proximity to the work of Satan.  This is accomplished through their relationship with the Father.  However, we also see that their relationship with God is not as strong as it could be as they continue to see hierarchy among their ranks.
• In Thyatira, we can hear about a group of people who are growing in their relationship with God.  However, we can see that their Up is still not where it should be.  The people of Thyatira have an issue with sexual immorality.  Instead of turning to God as the center of their passion, they are turning to the lust of the flesh.  God wants to be the center of our life.  That’s what Up is all about.

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