So many times I see myself evaluating others. I will sit and hear something a person has said and my insides will curl. For the most part I must keep my mouth shut because I know what I will say will neither up lift the person I am speaking to or give honor to Christ. It is sad when I am like this. I almost get angry. We have conviction and need to voice those, but at what expense? In seeing this in myself I was wondering something else. How much do I invest in Christ. I am so worried about what a friend has but do I really worry at what Christ has said.

In the Bible there is John that wrote both the book of John and Revelation. Focusing on the book of Revelation we see that John has been imprisoned on the isle of Patmos. Here John has this amazing encounter with Christ. He is suppose to write to seven churches through out the area: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

I really want to focus on Revelation 3:14-22... The church of Laodicea. Have we heard of this name before in Scripture? Yes… Colossians 2:1, 4:15 and Revelation 1:11. If the church is mentioned in Colossians this means Paul knew of them. If you look in those scriptures you know that Paul had not had the opportunity to meet them in person.

Look at the Revelation 3:14-22... What is going on? It starts out by saying that Jesus wants to spit them out of His MOUTH!!!! Holy cow! There was one time when I was at my grandma’s. It was one of those hot summer days in Kansas. I was craving something nice and cool. So, as any 7 year old would, chocolate milk was it. I had to make it myself. I remember walking to the fridge, grabbing the milk and chocolate syrup. As I find a large cup I get the spoon for stirring as. I pour the milk to about 1/3 inch away from the lip of the cup and start to stir in the chocolate syrup until it fills the cup. I am so proud of myself, look what I have done as a “big boy”. As any self-respecting man would do I took the largest drink ever. As I swallowed I felt my gag reflects kick in… I had used buttermilk. I do know if you have ever experienced such awfulness as this, but man it was horrible. I was wanted to spew it out of my mouth. This is much what Christ wanted to do with the church of Laodicea.

Why would Christ want to puke this up? It had to be pretty disgusting. As we read on in this section we find out that the church was rich, wealthy and needed nothing. Who does this sound like? It sounds like me. I am not considered rich or wealthy in the United States standard of the two words, but if you think about it I am. The average person in the world today lives on 2 bucks a day… My wife and I spent $11.57 for lunch alone. I fillled my car up for $30.75. The DSLR camera I would like to have cost $520.95 on amazon.com. Do not be get me wrong it is ok that we are able to do such things. I had to think about how wealthy I really am. I am able to pay my bills, have food on the table, go see a movie and even type on this computer and still have money leftover at the end of the month.

Christ goes as far to tell this church that they are blind, miserable, naked and poor. Why is this? Because they are investing into the wrong thing. We can assume from this little passage that they were investing strictly in what the world had to offer.

But what is great, even though Christ wants to spew them out, He offers an alternative… Christ. Christ wants the church to invest in Him. Christ is telling them to repent and turn back to what He has. He loves them and disciplines them much like a father disciplines his child.

I encourage all of us to check ourselves and see if we are investing in what the world has to offer. Which in turn Christ wants to vomit over or are we investing in Christ and growing in Him?

until next time...