By Tom Brown – Minister, Public Speaker, Radio Personality
Reading the book of Revelation as 2020 was drawing to a close sharpened my focus. The beginning of 2021 made me dig even deeper to try and identify what I was feeling about what I read and compare that to what I was seeing in the world around me. Social Media, a great communication vehicle when properly applied, currently is acting like more of an emotional megaphone granting unfiltered reactions and opinions to the world that would never have made it out of the house just a few decades ago. Nearly instant and world-wide notifications of every calamity, tragedy, and travesty lends itself to heightened anxiety over the state of the world. Combine these two technologies and the deceiver has just what he needs to cause conflict, depression, and dissention almost on demand. It would be very easy to throw up our hands and run screaming into the night screaming “all is lost!” or “the end is near!” Especially if you take some of the Revelation scripture out of context or just focus on the End Time Prophecy and ignore what John teaches us about victory and faith in Christ.
If you are a follower of Christ, you have all that you need for victory. Now this victory is not the worlds view of victory, it is God’s. Our time here is always coming to an end but our time with the heavenly Father is assured. In John’s vision he saw and heard this from a voice in heaven; “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” As a Christ follower you have the covering of the blood of the Lamb and you have your testimony. These two in combination assure victory. The deceiver is angry in his defeat and he will do everything he can to try to make you forget that you are victorious. I pray that today you will live out the freedom granted to you by the blood of the Lamb and that you will remember your testimony of His salvation.
With victory assured, are we acting like it? When people look at us, or our social media, what do they see? Do they see peace, hope, and inspiration? Do they see love for others? I certainly need work in that area. When Paul wrote to the Galatian followers of Christ he exhorted them to live in the freedom they had been granted; “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.”
In these times, as a follower of Christ, I have an opportunity to be light in a dark world where shouting, posturing, and finger pointing are the new normal. I can read Revelation and not allow the deceiver to draw me into fear. I have an assurance that gives me a freedom to rise above the din and be a peace-monger. (We already have more than enough fear-mongers!) I can choose to love those that I do not agree with. I don’t have to TYPE IN ALL CAPS TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS MY OPINION IS REALLY VALID! I just don’t think Christ went to the cross for us to be miserable, angry, or fearful. Jesus would love first, forgive completely, and restore fully.
So, with that, let me encourage YOU. You are loved, fully and completely, by the Creator of all that was, is, and ever will be. No matter what happened to you, what you have done or even what you have thought, you can be restored. A relationship with Christ is not about getting yourself presentable, it is about Jesus coming for your heart so that you can experience the joy of being loved unconditionally and without hesitation. Don’t let the deceiver steal your joy or play on your emotions. God IS STILL ON THE THRONE!
