Oh, Church, Wake Up!

I was empty. That is the honest-to-goodness truth. Empty of anything life sustaining. Empty of anything good.

But nobody knew it.

After all, I had a reputation of being alive and full. I poured out, I gave, so I must have something inside… right?

I was sitting on the porch of our mission house in Haiti when my emptiness caught up with me. I still remember watching my tears splash into my coffee cup. Everything was so broken and so painful. Infertility was this screaming monster inside me… crashing any notions I had of being strong within myself.

I was the church of Sardis in Revelation. I had a reputation of being alive, but I was dead.

Yet, in Christ, even dead things can breathe new life. 

There are people in our churches today, people reading this, people walking around claiming the name of Christ, who seem to be alive but are really just rotting away inside.

I know because I was one of them.

But we can wake up. Just like Jesus’ promise to the church of Sardis– we can overcome. He even tells us how.

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. (Rev. 3:3)

Salvation is not a single moment in history. [pullquote]Salvation is life-support to our heart. As long as we are attached to the breath-giver, we live. If we disconnect, we die. [/pullquote]

We have received and heard that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. He is the promise– the man who came to crush the head of the enemy. And He, who had no sin, became sin for us– that we might become the righteousness of God. Not from our own goodness, which is nothing at all, but through His power, by His strength, for His glory.

And when we live for Him– not for ourselves, for our own desires, our own wants– when we live by Him and for Him– we know what true life is. Our hearts of stone are replaced with hearts of flesh. Oxygen fills our lungs, our minds clear. Meaning is found. We live true life.

Oh, precious readers– if you are dead, I beg of you, wake up. Crawl to His feet. Cry out His name.

He’s right here, and He will bring to life that which is dead and will call into existence things that did not exist.

He will make you alive. It’s what He does best.

Join me over the next few weeks as I share Word Snacks from the book of Revelation! Sign up below to get new posts emailed directly to your inbox, or follow me on Facebook (just go here). As always, thank you for sharing posts with your friends!