Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ,
As we continue our study of the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches of Revelation, last Sunday
we examined the church at Thyatira. In many ways this was a healthy church, and the risen
Christ commended it for growing in love, faith, service and perseverance.
But this church had one crippling weakness: they tolerated in their presence a woman given the
name Jezebel. This woman was having an evil influence in the church, leading some into idol
worship and sexual immorality. So, Christ called the church to repent, so they could not only be
free of this evil influence, but also that they could become all God wanted them to be.
We read this and we may wonder how the church at Thyatira could be so blind or unconcerned to
what was taking place within her. And yet, all too easily we may fall into this trap ourselves as it
concerns our individual lives. Perhaps in most areas of our lives, we are surrendered to Christ,
and by His grace we are doing our best to honor Him. But maybe there is one area of our life
that we are keeping for ourselves, a particular sin or shortcoming that is in opposition to God’s
good will for our lives. Maybe we tolerate this in our lives because we have rationalized that
since the rest of our life is in order before God, this one sin isn’t such a big deal.
But God wants so much more for us than that. Any sin, especially if it is an on-going sin, will
diminish our relationship with God and prevent us from experiencing the fullness of life in
Christ.
So, let us give ourselves fully to the Lord. Let us ask the Lord to help us not tolerate anything in
our lives that He would not tolerate. As we do that, we will come to experience the fullness of
life that Christ came to give us.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Bob