“Things are getting worse and worse.”
When we look at the news, the culture, the entertainment, and even the Church today, it’s easy to feel as if everything is slowly getting worse. It’s tempting to believe that the world is gradually unraveling, and that we are moving further away from truth, instead of toward it.
Whenever we feel this cynicism begin to creep in, the temptation is to idealize the generations that have gone before us. We think, Our parents’ generation, our grandparents’ generation, the earliest Christians—they had it all together. Things weren’t as bad back then!
I struggle with this mentality often. There are days when I feel jaded about Christians and about the Church. I log onto social media and see division and in-fighting, or I read about a pastor failing his congregation and his family. I see name-calling and judgment and the drawing of big, deep lines, and my heart wants to harden toward it all.
On those days when we are tempted to dismiss the world with a flick of the wrist, when we find ourselves looking down on other Christians who “aren’t doing it right,” and when we despair that the Church’s reputation is hopelessly smeared, Revelation 2–3 has a word for us.
In these chapters, written just a generation after Jesus’s resurrection, many churches are distracted and lost. Although they are working hard and striving to be faithful, God also levels the following charges against them:
They had forsaken their first love (2:4).
They participated in pagan rituals (2:14).
They were sexually immoral (2:14).
They embraced false teaching (2:15, 20).
They had a reputation of being alive, but they were dead (3:1).
They were lukewarm, neither hot nor cold (3:16).
All this, only sixty years after Jesus walked the earth.
What this tells us is that the world is not simply getting worse, and neither is the Church. Following Jesus has always been hard. Faithfulness to God has always come unnaturally. Ever since sin entered the world, human nature has found it difficult to obey.
And that is exactly why we need a Savior.
The good news of Jesus Christ begins with the bad news that we are broken. We have always been distracted. We have always resisted the truth. It was true two thousand years ago, and it is just as true today. Therefore, these letters to the seven churches in Asia minor are important for us as well. “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:29).
But our brokenness has never stopped God. Our division, our fighting, our apathy, our immorality, even our bad theology—none of it has ever stopped God. So when we read Revelation 2–3, we can do three things. First, we can remember that humanity is not getting worse, and neither is the Church—the temptation to turn away from God and His ways has always been there. Second, we can welcome this list of rebukes as an opportunity to identify our own areas of need.
And finally, we can hope. In Revelation 3:19, God says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” (NIV). When we see darkness in the world—no matter how great—we don’t have to despair, and our hearts don’t have to grow hard. Instead, we can consider the possibility that God is allowing us to see these things, so that He can redeem them.
I love the last comment about how God gives us eyes to see things in order to redeem them. The past couple months of my life have been wedding planning (woot!) and having lots of time to seek out where God has called me and my new spouse. I love this idea because it reminds me that what we normally see as a need is so different from what others normally see! Praise!
Wow. I needed to hear this today. Over the last several months I have had a very apathetic attitude towards other Christians and the church. It’s difficult to love and to obey God when there’s hardness in my heart towards others. I am thankful that he redeems all things and that he is patient with his people! It take hard work to follow God, and to love his people. But it’s worth it.
Agree. I have been trouble finding a church to go to due to the same things. I needed this post as well to remind me it have never been easy. We all need a savior.
Yes! It’s so easy to view the early Church as passionate and on mission for Jesus, and get frustrated when our Churches today don’t seem nearly as motivated or on mission. Such a good reminder that the Church isn’t getting worse, and God wants us to watch redemption in action.
Glad to know someone shares the same thoughts!
This has always been such a convicting part of Revelation to me…which “church” am I most like? And more importantly, what am I doing about it?! Lord Jesus, You know all things. Please open my ears to hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to me.
Beautifully refreshing word this morning. Thank you ❤️
I have always been taught that any time something is repeated in the Bible, it is super important to pay attention to it. Hearing the Spirit isn’t always easy for me.
I have been meditating on whether or not I am like the churches in the letters.
I also want to dive deeper into the repeats of “to the one who conquers” and what it means to be a conqueror to Jesus.
This really stuck out to me too. What are we conquering? That’s not a metaphor that really resonates with me. But seems really important. Did you end up anywhere with that?
When I saw, “the one who conquers,” it made me wonder if that was talking about Christians, or if it was referring to Jesus as the conqueror.
I think that it is saying to the one who never loses faith in Jesus. To the one who turns from satan, sin, temptation, and holds fast to their savior…
Not 100% sure but that’s how I read it
Thanks for pointing out this repeated phrase. I believe we are the conquerers because it is Jesus speaking to the churches. But we are conquerors because of HIS victory on the cross. He defeated sin and death and so do we when we place our faith in him. I looked it up in my study bible and it sounds like 2:7 refers to conquerers as those who keep their testimony because they defeat the dragon (rev 12:11) and beast (rev 15:2). 2:17 refers to people who endure persecution and stay pure from defilement. I also think of Romans 8 where Paul says we are “more than conquerers” against things that try to separate us from the love of Christ: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword.
“See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
How many times have I heard this verse and glossed over the & eat with me part. He’s not just coming in, He sits at the table with me and has a meal. When we dine with someone in our home there is an intimacy about that, walls come down we are more transparent and real relationships develop.
Thank you for emphasising on the eating part and it’s significance . God is always pursuing a relationship with us.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches … I highlighted this several times as I was reading the scripture and meditating on what it means to “hear what the Spirit says.”
I am praying that as I take time to slow down and be still before the Lord, the Spirit will guide me in all truth and that my relationship with God will deepen … inch by inch, day by day.
Yes!!! It’s like you were hearing my thoughts on this too.❤️