Read: Revelation 3:1-6
By the time this is published I will have retired from fulltime work. I will be carrying on part time for a while but only on a very limited basis. I have dug out my old diary from 1981 and as far as I can see I left college on 3rd July, we had a family wedding on Saturday 4th and I started work full time on Monday 6th.
Just as now I will be doing some work, before and during college I was always working when I was at home. In the 44 years and 2 months that have elapsed, by some sort of miracle I have only had a day and half off for illness, that I can remember. What a blessing…words fail me when I think about it.
That is not to say I should not have had time off sometimes. I can recall ‘going through the motions’ when struggling with colds and other bugs. Those were the days when my contribution will have been limited or irrelevant.
The Revelation contains messages to seven churches, one of which is that in Sardis. The people there were putting on a good show and their reputation was of being lively. God saw through them and issued a warning that they must recover themselves urgently or everything would be lost.
God also pointed out a few people in Sardis who were loyal, worthy people whose reputation was not damaged by association. They would be rewarded for their loyalty to him.
It is one thing to go through the motions at work but it is quite another thing when we do it in the Church. Then we let down God and ourselves, no one else. After a lifetime of service it is easy to lapse into feeling weary; that is when the risk of missing something vital in God’s purpose is at its height. There is a way to guard against such errors, it is to make the most of daily spiritual refreshment by spending time with God who will restore you.
A prayer:
Lord, I confess that sometimes I feel a bit weary and I am tempted to skate over my responsibilities for my own health. Remind me then that time spent with you is the best insurance there is, guaranteeing that I am fully alive in you. For Jesus’s sake. Amen.