In our Bible study tonight we looked at the churches in Pergamum and Thyatira (Rev 2). Both churches had much to commend them, including hard work, faithfulness, love and perseverance, but they also had problems, with some wanting to compromise (as Balaam led the Israelites to do in Numbers 22-24) and some being led astray by false teaching (in the manner of Jezebel). Sexual immorality, compromising with idol worship and other ways of ‘fitting in’ with the world can easily lead us away from God.
The human tendency is to want an easy life and to seek new ideas that promise shortcuts to happiness and prosperity. This is not God’s way. Friendship with the world quickly makes us an enemy of God. (James 4:4) Jesus’s advice is to repent. We need a radical about-turn back to God when we have gone astray.
The rewards He promises to those who are victorious – hidden manna, a white stone with a new name, authority to rule over nations – remind us that we must look to eternal rewards and treasures rather than the fleeting pleasures of sin.
