I am re-reading The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, which I last read back in the eighties, and something stood out to me this morning. "Satan's real intention is not to have a godless political situation, he wants a religious situation. Satan loves religion, which is the reason he invades certain churches on Sunday. Religion is a great blinder of the minds of men."
Don't confuse religion with relationship. God does not desire for you to have religion or even act religious...He desires a RELATIONSHIP. Do you belong to a church (insert trendy church name and logo here), or are you being the Church (the Body of Christ) everyday and everywhere you go? Many "religious" people and "churches" today don't have a true relationship with the Lord.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus writes letters to 7 churches, and one of these is Sardis. Jesus said to Sardis "I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Sardis represents not only an actual church in Asia Minor in the first century, but also is representative of Christian believers during the end times, that period leading up to the rapture and the tribulation period. The believers in Sardis were active, they had a respected name (reputation), but they were dead according to what God judges by. They were engaged in good works but not producing good fruit. Paul described it to the Church at Colossae like this: "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." Col. 1:9-12
How are your "heavenly garments?" Are they soiled and stained or are they white? How do your deeds line up with "what you received and heard" initially from the Word of God? Are you ready for Christ's return (which probably will be VERY soon) or will he come like a thief and catch you unready and unprepared? Christ says "Wake up!" Take both your hands, place them on the sides of your head, feel around. Do you have ears? If so, "hear what the Spirit says..."
