Resilient – A Revelation Daily Devotional – Day 8
Day 8 – August 4
Read or listen to the audio version of the Bible Reading and Daily Devotional.
What if I told you that Santa Claus has likely done significant, albeit largely unnoticed, damage to the theological lens through which you view God? Even typing that question feels preposterous and may result in my being relegated to the reception of coal for every Christmas I have left.
As true as that may be, experience would suggest that many have relegated God to existing and relating to humanity in much the same way Santa does. He sees us when we are sleeping and knows when we are awake. He is watching each step and choice we make. Every step either propels us up the nice list or plummets us closer to eternal damnation. Maybe this metaphor strikes a chord with your picture of the God of the Bible. An angry old man with a white beard hurling lightning bolts from the sky at the hopeless depravity of humanity.
Or maybe your image is similar but from the opposite side of the coin. You are well-behaved. Sure, there are some behavioral hiccups and questionable choices in the past, but nowhere near the darkness of the world. This mentality extrapolated says, “Surely, God is going to take care of me now. He would want the nice-listers to have a wonderful Christmas after all, right?”
Today’s passage and Jesus’s second edict to the church at Smyrna are going to press pretty firmly against that imagery. This church has no rebukes made against it. It seems as though Jesus in His judging finds no flaw. They are on the nice list! But what is His command for this church? Persevere in the suffering you are and will continue to experience. Wait, remember the imagery of Jesus? He is all-powerful. He can make this stop. Yet, that is not His message. Why?
The more one invests in the Kingdom of heaven, the more the kingdom of darkness is going to push back. Maybe you feel this in our culture today. If not, stand up for a biblical sexual ethic, a definition of marriage, or against your boss’s desire to make a quick buck in a less than ethical manner and watch how the earthly kingdom responds. Jesus takes it even farther than being “canceled.” He instructs us to persevere even unto death. Wow! This encouragement does not feel quite so encouraging, but it is.
Death is a fact for all of humanity. No medical advance or scientific finding is ever going to change that. Death is an imminent, common enemy for believer and non-believer alike. Notice how Christ introduced Himself to the church. The one who died and rose. Death, in Christ, is defeated. It will not, and cannot, have the final word for the believer. Christ conquered death and now invites His followers to live resiliently, even in the face of death. There is no enemy larger than death, and yet, it has already been defeated.
Persevere. The light at the end of the tunnel is not temporal prosperity but eternal security. If the God who conquered death is for us, then not even death can find victory against us.
Pray: God, give me the boldness to live as one who shares in your victory over all things.