Devotionary

It’s easy to get discouraged. Even as believers in Jesus Christ, we can find ourselves hammered by the circumstances of life and begin to lose hope. This can happen churches as well, as is illustrated in Jesus’ words to the church in Smyrna reveal. Revelation 2:9-11 gives us a bit of insight and encouragement regarding churches that find themselves going through difficult days. It’s not always easy. The world doesn’t always like us or welcome us with open arms. And the church in Smyrna was a struggling congregation that was surrounded by worldliness and suffering from constant persecution. On top of that, they were poor. They were a financially strapped church made up of members with limited resources, but plenty of problems. So, what does Jesus have to say to these people? Well, He doesn’t assure them that everything is going to be okay. In fact, He’s going to tell them that more suffering is headed their way. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. He doesn’t promise them immediate relief or a miracu