Revelation 4:11

“O Lord our God, you deserve to receive glory and honor and power, because you created all things; because of your will they existed and were created.”

This verse, I find, is one of the greatest summary statements in all of Scripture.

My dad had me memorize this verse as part of my discipleship about 25 years ago. And I am so thankful, for it is such a centering statement on a grand scale.

May this be foundational for us, an anchor point to return to often.

God is worthy of everything simply because of who God is, for creating everything as we know it, and for everything holding on to existence due to God’s will.

Everything was made by God, for God.

This is also one of the most humbling verses in all the Bible. Whenever you’re feeling some pride coming on, just make a stop here and allow yourself to be put back in place.

You might read this whole chapter today. It’s kind of frightening—in a reverential awe sort of way.

We need reverential awe for our Master and Creator who is so beyond above us, that it should cause us to tremble when we direct all our focus upon God, even if we are only able to do so for a few seconds, or perhaps a whole minute.

“Worthy are you our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and by your will they were and were created.”

Revelation 3:1

I know what you have done. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

You are not your reputation.

Trying to live up to a reputation proves futile eventually.

But performing for an Audience of One, living in the truth that Christ knows what’s in your heart and which you can’t hide from him, is ultimately satisfying.

As you do this, you live more and more for Christ, and less and less for others, less for your reputation. It’s not that you consciously don’t care what people think, but over time, you don’t even think about what other people think of you or your decisions—in a healthy way.

I think this is one of the things Christ saves us from—enslavement to living up to others’ expectations. As some of you may remember, one of the top five regrets of dying people is that they wished they had lived a life true to themselves, and not according to what others expected of them.

Living to please Christ will ensure a life true to yourself, to your true self, because you live true to that which you came from.

True to who you came from.

True to who instilled your very identity.

So today, as you make your minute by minute decisions which form your life, make them based on pleasing Christ, the One who knows why you do everything you do anyway.

Revelation 2:9

I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

I’ve been to some churches of Satan.

Not in the way in which that probably sounds.

Churches who have lost their First Love (v.4), are promoting principles, programs, and good works, or the community itself, before they are promoting the person of Christ himself.

Some churches are more pleasing to Satan than to Jesus, I believe. If the devil can keep people from being in love with, and reliant on, Jesus the living Christ, then he is quite pleased with his bad self.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air. Satan works with the flesh—our human powers without divine assistance or guidance. Satanic influence can infiltrate churches, no matter what their name or claim, through keeping them reliant on their own power, away from prayer, psychologizing, forgetful of the Cross.

Always remain aware of what your church is promoting most, promoting first.

For Christians who gather, there is the Cross first; everything else, a very distant second, flows from that.

Ok, I must admit that I’ve been sitting on those “Little People” playset pictures for over two years, dying to use them, and am giddy to finally have the chance!