How to Regain Our Spiritual Fire

Our modern churches have become like Laodicea, the seventh church spoken to by the Spirit of Jesus in Revelation 3:14-19.

14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

NKJV

It was something that Philip K Dick wrote about his vision of being a early Christian in Roman times: they had a secret, that Jesus was still alive, and they were waiting for his return. If you wonder how that must have felt, think of it as a quickening fire. The authorities thought that they had dispensed with the renegade rabbi and his rabble, by crucifying him in Jerusalem in 30 AD. But rumour had it that he had resurrected on the third day, and because they couldn’t find the body, they presumed that it was a plot to overthrow the Roman government in Judea. That rumour spread like wildfire, igniting the hearts of true believers, not just in Palestine, but everywhere in the civilized world. Christianity was born.

(And then we wonder how the ‘phoenix rising from the ashes’ became a symbol of the resurrection.)

But after just seven years short of 2,000 years, we have become complacent. The conflicts in the world have made us (mostly) immune to the plight of others. NIMBY and “I’m alright, Jack” have become our mottos. Only when the war comes to your home town, will you fight the good fight, again.

Hmm.