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Topic: Prosperity (05/11/06)
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TITLE: Gold Refined In Fire | Previous Challenge Entry
By John Huckstep
05/13/06 -
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Jesus addressed a church by the name of Laodicea who also lived a very prosperous life. The Laodiceans were known for their great wealth but their wealth had deadened their Spiritual life. They were rich in the things of the world but money could not buy what they so desperately needed. They had become preoccupied with their lifestyle. The cares of making a living had created a spiritual condition that Jesus called Lukewarm. They thought they needed nothing but Jesus said He was about to spit them out of His mouth.
In Revelation 3:17 Jesus describes their true state of affairs. “You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” Here we have a picture of a people who thought they were walking in the ways of the Lord but were ignorant to their true spiritual state. They were going about the Lords business without the Lord much like the Pharisee’s. We can be rich in our earthly possessions, our spiritual knowledge or our position in life and still be pitiful in God’s sight.
How do we become rich? Jesus tells us in Verse 18: “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
The gold, the clothes, and the salve are all Christ. The purified or refined Gold is Christ who was tested, tried and found worthy to save us. How lost we are without Him and how truly rich we are in Christ. The white clothes is the righteousness of Christ that covers our spiritual poverty and sinfulness and the eye salve is Christ who opens our eyes and give us spiritual direction in all the ways we walk in this life. Christ is everything.
The cure for Laodicea is the same remedy for us today. The only cure for their wretched, poor, blind condition was Christ. The worlds greatest need today is not more riches but more of Christ. ”Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Colossians 3:15.
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