Year 9, Day 349: Revelation 3

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Revelation 3 teaches about the other 3 churches that weren’t met in chapter 2.  The pattern continues.  The churches all face some kind of threat.  The people of Philadelphia have little power against an external threat, but they continue to endure.  The people of Sardis face an internal threat of being dead inside.  The people of Laodicea face an internal threat of living a lie and choosing to believe it.  The threat to our faith and even our livelihood always continues to be real.

God is always using the world around us to teach us, test us, cause us to grow, and bring about His will.  That is the next level that can be learned from these churches.  In each situation, God encourages the churches to persevere.  Through perseverance, they will gain something.  The people in Sardis, who risk being spiritually dead, will gain purity if they persevere in the Lord.  The people of Laodicea, who live a lie, will find that faithfulness leads to discipline and discipline leads to the opportunity receive things from God that truly matter – even the opportunity to dwell with the Lord!  The people in Philadelphia, who are largely powerless against the trials around them, will find that the testing of the Lord will cause them to be strong enough for God to build His temple around us.

Life can be hard.  Life can be filled with surprises and temptations, both of which can readily cause us to stumble.  Perseverance, though, has its benefits.  Through perseverance we draw closer to God and His ways.  Through perseverance we understand that God can even use the hard moments in life to teach us and make us better.  While perseverance seldom comes through times that are fun and exciting, it is an important part of the walk of the faithful.

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