What we must buy from God

I'm not very good at writing but I just really enjoyed all the sharings and reflections everyone's posted and I thought I'd share what I learned from my bible reading.  Hopefully our awesome team can keep all these sharing/reflections going!

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“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see." (Revelations 3:14-18)

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Here Jesus is furious at the church of Laodicea for being lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, and wants to spit them out.  They say that they are rich, but they are in fact poor.  They say that they have need of nothing, but they are naked, They say that they have prospered, but they are pitiable.  

At first, it may just seem like they are materially wealthy and have lots of possession but have no faith towards God.  But I think their situation is actually slightly different -- I think that they actually still worship God, pray to God, and do everything that a church does, however, inwardly, they do not really feel the need for God and thus the works they do are just out of doing things for the sake of doing it, or "self-justification".  

Being lukewarm, the church in Laodicea is still functioning and is still operating, but Jesus is not satisfied, and later tells them that they need to be more zealous.  However, this church is merely "cruising" through each Sabbath, just going through the motions, being neither zealous nor absent.  And beyond church, into their daily lives, they feel it's okay if I don't "need" God, it's okay if I don't involve God in my daily life, to mix my faith into the different pieces of my life.

So do we say in our hearts "without Jesus we are nothing", or "without Jesus I can still get by"? Our actions can tell us whether or not we are lukewarm.  Do we find that it is okay if we miss our daily time with God? Do we find that it's okay not to love our brothers and sisters? Do we find it okay to give excuses to do things at church if we have "higher priorities" in our regular lives?

And the reason I'm sharing this is because I feel like as I progress more and more into this working life, it's easier to feel like I don't lack anything when in fact I am sometimes struggling to find God's presence in my everyday life.  After NYTS I made the determination that in every day, after work I'm going to pray first, and that prayer must be one where God truly satisfies me.  But often times, even if I don't skip prayer, I go straight back to my media which is much more "easy" and "instantaneous" satisfaction.  I sometimes wonder, after all the prayer that I did today, sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes 1 hour, why can't I even bring myself to put my bible reading reflection above another youtube video?  I know what being lukewarm feels like, and it's very comfortable, a little too comfortable.

So if we are lukewarm, God counsels us to buy from Him gold refined by fire, white garments, and eye salve! Wait what? And Jesus just referred to them as poor, so how do they buy?  Let's take a look at Isaiah 55, God tells this to the Israelites: 

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“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the water and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

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Even though the church of Laodicea is poor according to Jesus, but He actually gives them this hope in "buying" from God- that we don't need money, but the food is so abundant, and the water never ceases to flow.  All we have to do is to listen and delight ourselves in the words of God and it will be given to us free of charge.

Therefore, the first step of "buying", is simply listening and then we just have to enjoy it! So often, I feel like we hear so much from sermons and all, but how often do we enjoy our Sabbaths? I think Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, didn't give us Sabbath so that we could take a nap, daydream, or interrupt our school, it's so that we can delight in it :)

I also just realized that this topic is about what we must buy... and I haven't gotten to the gold, white garments, or eye salve.  I'm so off topic :( But ... "to be continued!!" Haha please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments! :) 

In Christ,

John