The title of this article is by no means original with me. I was immediately captivated recently when I read this statement in a devotional thought taken from Revelation 3:17. A devotional writer made this observation. “We can’t see the picture when we are in the frame. Likewise, we do not know who we truly are until the worldly things we have come to depend on for comfort and security are taken away. At that point we will know if who we thought we were is really who we are.” Revelation 3:17 reads, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.’” Jesus said they did not know, and therefore, they never saw this starkest, most scathing reality check coming! Jesus used five of the bluntest and most graphic descriptions imaginable to Christians in His condemnation of their shabby spiritual state.
- “Wretched” (worthless, despicable, inferior). Yet, there is a spiritual solution. “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:24-25).
- “Miserable” (sorrowful, despondent, dejected). Yet, there is a spiritual solution. “But I am poor and sorrowful, let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high” (Psalm 69:29).
- “Poor” (weak, mediocre, feeble). Yet, there is a spiritual solution. “But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God” (Psalm 40:17).
- “Blind” (sightless). Yet, there is a spiritual solution. “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Psalm 119:18).
- “Naked” (stripped, nude, bare). Yet, there is a spiritual solution. “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).
The church at Laodicea was the only one of the seven churches of Asia that Jesus outrightly condemned for who they thought they were. They imagined they were a people who were rich, abundant in possessions and in need of nothing. Jesus said to them in Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.” They were lukewarm, self-satisfied, felt self-sufficient and were self-confident in every way.
In a recent television program presented each Sunday by churches of Christ, the Good News Today host addressed Revelation 3:17-18. Verse 18 reads, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” The program host noted what the Laodiceans had said about themselves. “Because you say…” He stated, “It doesn’t matter what I say about me, but rather, it matters what the Bible says about me.” God’s Word is a mirror as one looks into that perfect law of liberty (James 1:25) and whether we continue in it is the litmus test for all of us. We all start on the same level field as lost sinners in need of eternal redemption. If we have one sin or a trillion-zillion, the number of sins is totally irrelevant.
Second Corinthians 10:12 reminds us of an inescapable truth. “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” In his book on 2 Corinthians—Prescription for Abuses and Disorders, C.W. “Abe” Lincoln wrote:
Paul would not dare class or compare himself with any of those who put forward their own claims, those who played the game of self-comparison. Competition or comparing oneself one with another is very deceiving, hurtful, and even spiritually destructive. It is a bad practice to use another; it is proper practice to follow a good example…We are not to compare ourselves with others. We are to look to the Lord and see how short we fall of His glory.
That kind of seeing keeps us ever humble, thankful and obedient.
