Revelation 3:1, 2

“I (Jesus ) know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die.”

I find this bit quite hard reading. It seems so graceless.  I am surprised that the words are those of Jesus.  “You are dead.”  Ouch,  Are they words of grace?  As I think about it I admit, yes, they are! I have walked with Jesus long enough to be convinced that he does not sniff out the smallest flame on a fragile reed but works hard to bring it back to a full blaze. He does not want to wound but to heal, but often the wounding comes first!

To be truthful, I like words of God’s grace that are affirming and soft.  Like a summer breeze. But, come to think of it, I have heard him speak some hard words to me, very hard words, that startled me and caught my attention.  For example I carried an unloving attitude toward a person, a thing I know Jesus would not do, ever.  Then those sharp, cutting words, “Repent, Don, or your hardness will dry you up and drain you of the joy of the Holy Spirit. Lose that joy and the downward slide is inevitable.”  I owe so much to Jesus for stopping me short, reminding me of my foul spirit and in the same breath offering me the grace to repent. So, I suppose we are all like the folks in Sardis in central Turkey.

It is not that those people in the Sardis fellowship of believers were never alive in Christ, no, they did what human beings often do, they let slip the most valuable thing ever, an intimate walk with Jesus in the Holy Spirit.  The pulls and tugs of life want to take us out of fellowship with God and with one another. Then we are on a slippery slope that ends in despair.

So I am convinced that the believer hears grace in some rather sharp words at times, when appropriate, words like “Wake up!”  “Repent.”

That is half of Christ’s words to Sardis.  The other half is addressed to those, “a few,” who have held on to their first love with determination and diligence, no matter what. Their reward is assured, an eternity of walking with Jesus in white garments, cleansed by his atoning sacrifice!  May we be found among those so blessedly clothed!