Observation: Near the end of his vision, John, a first-century Christian leader, hears an announcement from an angel about the "marriage supper of the Lamb," a beautiful image of God's final celebration in which heaven and earth are wed together. John is overcome with emotion, and falls down to worship the angel, but the angel corrects him. "Worship God! for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation talks a few times about the "testimony of Jesus," and I'm not sure if it means the words and teachings that come from Jesus, or the stories about Jesus. I'd guess both. Either way, who the angel is doesn't matter. What he says about Jesus is the most important thing.
Application: I give myself way too much credit sometimes. When something goes well in my ministry, I feel good. When things seem to be going wrong, I feel bad. Those are just feelings, and like the weather, they come and go. But when I attach thoughts to those feelings--thoughts like, "this is going well because I'm awesome," or "this is not going well because I'm useless"--it's time to take a look at those thoughts, and ask whether they are accurate, or welcome in my mind. And the unequivocal answer, based not just on sociology or national trends but on the true Word of God, is no. Those thoughts aren't welcome because ministry is not about me. I'm a messenger. The One really doing the work is the "spirit of prophecy," AKA the Holy Spirit. The more we focus on the message--the testimony of Jesus--the less it's about us, and the less of our self-worth we invest into how our lives are going in this fleeting moment. In any task worth accomplishing among Christians, the testimony of Jesus--his words, his teachings, his story--is going to do all the heavy lifting.
Prayer: Jesus, testify in my life and in my community. Help me be attentive to your words, and ready to share them. Help me stop focusing on me and start focusing on you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment