wretched, blind and naked

Some scriptures are so familiar that they’ve become a part of the language we use. Sometimes when I read them in context I’m surprised at the part we don’t necessarily know.

Take, for example, the warning to the church in Laodicea, when Jesus in this vision called them lukewarm. Look at the passage from Revelation 3: 14-18: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

What makes these Christians lukewarm? They think their wealth is enough to meet their needs. They believe because they’re living a good life here on earth their eternal future will be as comfortable. They live without urgency because there isn’t anything they want that they can’t buy.

That’s really sad, because most of the best things in life can’t be bought. Certainly, nothing that will avail against our sin, nothing that will free us from our chains, can be acquired with money. In fact, we can be rich as Croesus and still be wretched, blind and naked in a spiritual sense.

The sweet lure of affluence is it feeds our pride and supports our indulgences at the same time that it numbs our true need. That was the snare that entrapped the church in Laodicea. It seems a legitimate risk for me as well.