Revelation 3:21-22 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Victory does not come without pain and hard work. In terms of spiritual victory, we also must push hard towards the goal. The Apostle Paul provides a good model of this in his testimonies scattered through his letters. The early Christians had to pay a high cost socially to be part of the church. In some places of the world today, this is still the case. In my home country, it was a social fad to be part of a church but that has changed in the past few decades. It is becoming more costly to be a true Jesus follower anywhere in the world. Culture and the world of unbelievers put pressure on people to conform to the norms of that culture. In certain places where there is a dominant religion, it may cost a person family, jobs, a place to live, to be a follower of Jesus.
Jesus tells the Laodiceans that with repentance from lukewarmness by having one foot in the world and one foot in Christ, and with commitment, they will be victorious. The reward will be honor before God. Obedience and endurance do have rewards. We are so short sided, however, and only see what is right before our eye. The flesh and all it represents so easily deceives us. We are too much citizens of this world and not of God’s kingdom. We need strength to overcome the world. 1 John 5:4-5 gives us the answer: “4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
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