REVELATION 7:9-12 – After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

THEME OF THE DAY. TWO PLACES OF FOCUS FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH. We know it is true. The Christian life is not for the faint of heart. It demands all of us, all the time. Now I am not saying becoming a Christian is the difficult part. We don’t become followers of Christ by what we do, but by what Christ did. It cost Christ everything for us to be Christians. However, it will cost us everything to live as Christians. It is a false Gospel and self-deception to think one may simply pray a prayer to ask Jesus into a heart, make a public profession of Him, and then live a life unchanged, in love with the world, and not engage in day-to-day all out combat against the world, the flesh, and the devil. There is only one true measurement of genuine conversion – a life consistently being changed into the image of the Lord Jesus in holiness and the development of the Fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Maurice Roberts, in his excellent little book Union and Communion with Christ, wrote, “The only evidence of real Christian faith and life is to be seen in the character we possess. Where Christ is in a man’s soul, the fruits of love, peace, and holiness will be visible. The Holy Spirit is not so much given to impart gifts to men as to create in them a likeness to Christ.”

As we ponder the difficulties in the Christian life, we must not be discouraged over what might seem at times a real lack of spiritual growth. It is so easy to become discouraged, even doubt our salvation, when we see so little of the qualities of the Lord Jesus in our lives and still so much the ugly qualities of selfishness. But when those times come, stop and remember two things. First, the Christian life is a marathon race, not a dash. We are in this for the long haul and don’t look for a perfected Christ-likeness in this life. Instead rejoice that this work is present in our lives, even if it is at a snail’s pace. Another thing to remember when tempted to be discouraged over lack of growth is to remember this is God’s work and what He starts, He finishes and at His pace – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). However, we are to be active participants in this work of God. He expects our part; our discipline and our obedience in the work. And to those ends, today’s scripture gives us two places to focus our minds and hearts on while daily slugging it out in the Christian life. If we learn to fix our attention and affections in these places, we will go a long way in becoming more and more like Christ – the goal of our salvation.

First, focus on the throne of God in heaven. Go back and notice how often the throne of God is mentioned in this short section of the Revelation. If we daily “visit” the throne room of God in our hearts and minds, we gain perspective of life now and in the future. We learn to walk with “God-awareness” throughout our day and that is essential to spiritual growth.

The next area of focus for spiritual growth is on the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus. Again, go back up and pick out the times “the Lamb” appears. If we can learn to walk “in heaven” with our “eyes” on the Lord Jesus, we will detach ourselves from this world. And when it comes to being detached from the pleasures and things of the world, this is necessary for any spiritual growth.

So, the Christian life is hard but doable. God’s grace ensures that. And as we grow in grace, learn to focus on the throne and Lamb of God. Such focus always produces spiritual growth.

PRAYER: “Father, keep my affections and attentions fixed on Your Son and Your Throne”

QUOTE: “To keep first love for Christ, we must keep Christ first in our thinking, our affections, and our attention”