A Spiritual Wake Up Call

I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. (Revelation 3:1-2) 
 
Despite having a name and reputation around town for being alive, the church of Sardis that John talks about in today’s key passage was really spiritually dead. It was a place where people gathered, but they did so because it was customary or the popular thing to do. You wanted to say at the water cooler on Monday morning that you were at Sardis Baptist Church the day before. 
 
Sadly, those same people had no spiritual power. They couldn’t get a prayer through. They were dominated by the flesh and the things of the world; and as a consequence, they were spiritually defeated and did not walk in the victory that Jesus gave them. To make matters worse, not only was this a problem with the church of Sardis, but it’s a problem we’re still facing today. 
 
So many of us have experienced feeling spiritually dead, where we are going through the motions, but we’re not growing and maturing in our faith, and we’re not being fulfilled in our walk with Christ. The circumstances we’re facing are testing our faith, deepening our doubts, and challenging our convictions, but we’re not making any progress spiritually. 
 
But we don’t have to stay this way. We can experience what it’s like to be spiritually alive. All we have to do is repent from our worldly and fleshly living and walk in the way of righteousness. And that means following Jesus and surrendering to Him. He will reignite our desire to live for Him if we ask Him to. So let’s not continue to live a spiritually dead life. Instead, let’s turn to the Lord and live for Him.