Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

Indeed, this is why tolerance, as the world defines it, is so very, very bad. It gives people the impression that it is okay to sin. Everything is going to be fine. God will not do anything. Maybe God cannot do anything. In reality, however, this could not be farther from the truth! Sin will ultimately cause us to lose everything! When we tolerate sin, then, we are misrepresenting God, lying about who he is and what he’s going to do.

Repentance, then, is not really an optional thing. Of course, that does not make it any easier. Fortunately, verse 17 does. Here, Jesus shared three things that he would do if the church at Pergamum repented.

Jesus’ battle plan is summed up in the first two words of verse 16: “Therefore repent!” Indeed, if we have compromised, the only effective solution is a simple, one-step, frontal assault. Plain and simple, we must repent!

We call ourselves Christians, but that does not really apply when we are at work. We call ourselves Christians, but we resolve that we must cuss, drink, cheat, lie, flirt, or some other sinful behavior so that our friends will respect us. We call ourselves Christians, but this juicy tidbit is just too good not to share. Besides, our prayer partners need to know how to pray. It is what two people who love each other do… It does not mean anything… It is just not convenient right now… It’s just one… It’s only…

I dare say, this ability to face fear, even no-win scenarios, is exactly what Jesus expected of the church at Smyrna, and it is exactly what he expects of every Christ-follower.

When Jesus told the Smyrnaeans and us to be faithful, then, he was really saying that, when life is tough, we need to be full of faith that Jesus can. When God seems distant or hidden behind danger and pain, we need to be steadfast in affection toward and allegiance to him. When there are mountains in the way and bad guys waiting on every pass, we need to be firm in our adherence to the promises that we have made and in observing our duty to obey.

In situations such as the church faced at Smyrna, such promises can sound rather hollow because we are focused on the here and now, where things are tough. And because we are focused on the tough things in the here and now, rather than on him who is transcendent, eternal, and victorious, we get scared.

Ultimately, this is the problem with complacency: it leads to exactly the opposite of what God wants for us. God wants for us to be completely without sin, engaged in a perfect relationship with him. In order to realize that, he never considered “good enough,” but loved extravagently. And those who will experience this amazing promise must never succumb to the stronghold of complacency.

Revelation 2:1-7 Editor’s Note: If you haven’t read it already, you’ll probably want to start with Part 1. The battle plan Whenever we come up against complacency, before we do anything, it is important to recognize two things. The first of these is that Jesus’ plan for dealing with complacency is simple. That is not […]

Like the Ephesians, some of us, if we are honest, have set our love of God and people on the counter and promptly lost it. It was not that we meant to lose it! We started out with passion and love for God and people, but eventually, we set down that passion and love in favor of a routine. We still did enough good stuff to be called good and effective Christians. We thought for sure that no one would notice the difference. Shoot, we did not even notice the difference!