Revelation 2:7, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

My recent trip to Turkey to visit the seven churches of Revelation stirred up memories of my 2019 visit to the Isle of Patmos. Patmos was a barren, prison island when John was exiled there nearly 2,000 years ago. It’s still barren, for the most part. The only way to get there is by sea or helicopter. The population is around 3,000. The cave, believed to be where John received the revelation from Jesus, is why most people visit.

While praying about this devotion early one morning, I remembered that every message to the churches concludes with Jesus saying, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” With the exceptions of Smyrna and Philadelphia, the other five churches had fallen victim to compromise. Rather than living a holy, sanctified, and separate life from the world around them, they had blended in with their culture to such an extent that you couldn’t tell the difference between the sinner and the saint. We are living in a similar day.

I remembered a conversation from many years ago. I was witnessing to a man who said this. “I have worked with my co-worker for several years. I just learned a couple of days ago that he says he is a Christian.” They had worked together for years, but neither in word nor deed could he see anything about him that showed he was a Christian. I fear we have cheapened the Christian experience today by reducing it to repeating a few words that do not result in a lifestyle change. If the world cannot see Jesus in us, maybe it’s because Jesus is not in us.