Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) is a revelation of the comprehensive love of the Savior, a love that both commends and corrects. Jesus has “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (1:5). To the first-century church at Laodicea, He said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (3:19). Jesus lavishly loved these Laodicean believers; however, they did not love Him fervently. The sad words of Jesus are weep-worthy: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth” (3:15-16). If we are cold, we can learn the value of love. If we are hot, we know the power of love. However, if we are lukewarm, we are perilously close to pretending to love. Lukewarm love is not really love; it is closer to convenience. The word picture of Jesus vomiting because of our insincerity is disturbing but necessary. He wants us to know His best (“peace” in 1:4 is God’s best to us in all areas of life), and His best is a full, fervent, free, forever love. May we never be tepid in our response to our Lord and His love.