Good Morning Friends,
“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! … Be faithful even to the point of death, and I
will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:8-10)
There are problems and hurts in our lives
that we don’t understand and some that we don’t deserve. We often wonder why
God allows such things to afflict us. Does God even know what is going on in
our lives?
The Christians of Smyrna had the same
questions that plague us. And Jesus answered their question. He reminded the
church at Smyrna that God does know about their afflictions and their problems.
He sees and He cares. To their questions – and to ours – God offers these
answers …
Don’t think that afflictions only affect you.
They even affected Jesus! The afflictions were so severe for Jesus that He died
because of them. Death might have been ahead for the Christians at Smyrna, and
it might be ahead for us, but they hadn’t faced afflictions that severe yet,
and neither have we. If Jesus faced that kind of affliction, then why should we
think that we would be able to avoid them. The afflictions Jesus faced did not
mean that God did not know what was going in His life and they did not mean
that God did not love Him. They just meant that is what He had to face in this
world.
Affliction is not where Jesus ended. Affliction
was only part of the story and it wasn’t the final chapter. The final chapter
for Jesus was resurrection and glory – He came to life again. The afflictions
were just something He had to pass through on the way to glory. That’s true for
us, too. Afflictions are only part of the story of our lives and they are not
the final chapter. The final chapter for us – just like for Jesus – will be
resurrection and glory. The afflictions are only something we have to pass
through in this life. We walk “through” the valley of the shadow of death – we don’t
stay there forever!
If we look only at our afflictions and
troubles, then we are focusing only on part of what is going in our lives right
now. For the Christians of Smyrna, there was affliction and poverty – that is
what the material world presented to them. But in truth they were rich. Their riches
were not in material things. They were rich in ways that were far more
important than material things. They were rich in spiritual things!
So, the challenge that Jesus gave to the
Christians of Smyrna is the same challenge He would give to us. He challenged
them to hang on despite their afflictions and their poverty. To be faithful even
if they were taken to their deaths, to be faithful till they breathed their
last breath. And on the other side of affliction and poverty and death there
would glory and a crown and life! That was true for them and it’s true for us,
too.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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