Tuesday September 27th, 2016 Revelation 3:14-22
"Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches." (verse 22)
Since I began writing devotions, I have found myself hungering to learn more about the Bible and the ways that people interpret it. In the past couple of years, I have taken continuing education courses on Western religions, reading and misreading the Bible, and the Bible as literature. What joy it has given me to participate in class discussions and write these devotions.
There are plenty of difficult passages in the Bible, but I find few as challenging as those found in the Revelation of John of Patmos. Most of Revelation recounts John’s visions of cosmic battles between good and evil, and the second coming of Christ. Mercifully, our passage belongs to the earlier, easier parts of Revelation. It is John’s message to the last of the seven churches of Asia Minor, and it reads like an unfavourable job performance appraisal.
It may be easier to understand, but it makes me hope that my own beloved church would never be judged to be lukewarm in our faith and blind to our own faults the way the congregation of Laodicea was. It is a reminder that all congregations would do well to discern what the spirit is trying to tell us about the quality of our ministry.
Holy Spirit, open our ears. Amen. — CKA
Contributed by Performance Appraisal
Since I began writing devotions, I have found myself hungering to learn more about the Bible and the ways that people interpret it. In the past couple of years, I have taken continuing education courses on Western religions, reading and misreading the Bible, and the Bible as literature. What joy it has given me to participate in class discussions and write these devotions.
There are plenty of difficult passages in the Bible, but I find few as challenging as those found in the Revelation of John of Patmos. Most of Revelation recounts John's visions of cosmic battles between good and evil, and the second coming of Christ. Mercifully, our passage belongs to the earlier, easier parts of Revelation. It is John's message to the last of the seven churches of Asia Minor, and it reads like an unfavourable job performance appraisal.
It may be easier to understand, but it makes me hope that my own beloved church would never be judged to be lukewarm in our faith and blind to our own faults the way the congregation of Laodicea was. It is a reminder that all congregations would do well to discern what the spirit is trying to tell us about the quality of our ministry.
