The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Revelation 2:6,
"You [members of the church in Ephesus] hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
While the Lord accused the Ephesian church for having "forsaken the love you had at first", verse 4, they were commended for hating the practices of the Nicolaitans.
A comment about the Nicolaitans from The Encyclopedia of the Bible at biblegateway.com provides some light on this cryptic group: "The Nicolaitans attempted to establish a compromise with the pagan society of the Graeco-Roman world that surrounded them. The people most susceptible to such teaching were, no doubt, the upper classes who stood to lose the most by a separation from the culture to which they had belonged before conversion." The "compromise" possibly being an acceptance by some in the church of sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols as was practiced by the pagans surrounding them. Jesus appears to identify the teachings of the Nicolaitans with the "teaching of Balaam" that the church in Pergamum was accused of. See verses 14-15.
In any event, I am reminded that despite what our culture and society appears to embrace, I need to embrace what it is the Lord has for us. The acceptance of homosexuality, as an example, may be what our culture has "evolved on", however, the Lord never "evolves" and he doesn't want me "evolving" with the culture we live in either.
I don't belong to this world and, so, regardless of where it goes, I remain with the Lord. Those churches and clergy who are busy "evolving" with the world and its views are weak, without conviction and rudderless. You can identify them by both the positions they adopt as well as the terminology and phraseology they use to express themselves.
It is impossible to read these seven letters Jesus had written to these seven churches and not understand he has some expectations of us. Those who ignore or disregard these expectations do so to their own peril.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
"You [members of the church in Ephesus] hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
While the Lord accused the Ephesian church for having "forsaken the love you had at first", verse 4, they were commended for hating the practices of the Nicolaitans.
A comment about the Nicolaitans from The Encyclopedia of the Bible at biblegateway.com provides some light on this cryptic group: "The Nicolaitans attempted to establish a compromise with the pagan society of the Graeco-Roman world that surrounded them. The people most susceptible to such teaching were, no doubt, the upper classes who stood to lose the most by a separation from the culture to which they had belonged before conversion." The "compromise" possibly being an acceptance by some in the church of sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols as was practiced by the pagans surrounding them. Jesus appears to identify the teachings of the Nicolaitans with the "teaching of Balaam" that the church in Pergamum was accused of. See verses 14-15.
In any event, I am reminded that despite what our culture and society appears to embrace, I need to embrace what it is the Lord has for us. The acceptance of homosexuality, as an example, may be what our culture has "evolved on", however, the Lord never "evolves" and he doesn't want me "evolving" with the culture we live in either.
I don't belong to this world and, so, regardless of where it goes, I remain with the Lord. Those churches and clergy who are busy "evolving" with the world and its views are weak, without conviction and rudderless. You can identify them by both the positions they adopt as well as the terminology and phraseology they use to express themselves.
It is impossible to read these seven letters Jesus had written to these seven churches and not understand he has some expectations of us. Those who ignore or disregard these expectations do so to their own peril.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
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