3 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:
“I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.
4 “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
6 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
Revelation 3:1-6
Dear God, oh my. This is a horrifying thought. To have a great reputation that is really empty. Oh, how I don’t want to be empty.
I’m going to look at this from a personal level first before I think about it for your churches here in America. I have a reputation in our small town, and it is a good one. Is it a facade? I don’t think it is, but I so hope I have not deluded myself into thinking I’m loving and serving you but not doing it. I was talking to a friend yesterday about the rescue and now recovery efforts in Kerrville, which is a neighboring town less than 30 miles from where I am sitting right now. We were talking about our respect for people who are doing the searching and recovering. It is gruesome. It is grim. I confessed to him that I don’t have the stomach for it. And I know we can’t all be everything. I know there are different parts of the body and we all have different roles. But should I be there? At this point, I don’t think so, but I don’t know. I just know I truly admire every single person who is doing it. And I know I’ve responded to what I felt like were nudges from you on how my wife and I should participate. Going back to this passage from Revelation, my point is that I don’t want my life to be a hollow shell of a respectable and reputable facade. In fact, if anything, I want to minimize how much or what people think of me and regard it as rubbish compared with what you think of me. I want to consider my life worth nothing to me.
Now, as for the church, well, there are some churches I personally respect and some I do not. Do I have the right perspective on it? Are the categories I use to evaluate and judge them the right ones, or do I even have the right opinion about those categories? As for the Catholic church, of which I am not a member but attend with my wife, I have no issue with them regarding their love for you or the genuineness of their hearts for you. I don’t agree with every theological belief they have, but the truth is we are probably both wrong about some of our beliefs, we just don’t know which those are. That’s fine. We believe in the same core things and I enjoy worshipping with these sisters and brothers. I enjoy being in relationship with them. I feel like I have seen their hearts and they are good and not empty shells of reputation.
Father, I pray for the churches in our community. Each one. Catholic, Orthodox, mainline denominations, evangelical, etc. I pray for their leadership. I pray for each head pastor and each person who serves under them. Give them your presence. Convict where you want to convict. Affirm where you want to affirm. I know some churches are facing a leadership transition. Please guide over them as churches and as individuals servants of you. From their pastors and potential pastors, to the committee members who are discerning your will, to the people in the pews. Be very present to them. But beyond those few churches, I pray for all of them. That they might be found faithful. That the Catholic church I attend might be found faithful. Let your kingdom come and your will be done through all of us as your body as it is in heaven.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 