You say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Revelation 3:17
So you see some strange guy walking down the street. You can’t help but notice that he is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. He’s all banged up from encounters with light posts and mailboxes, bruised and wounded. You approach him and say, “Sir, may I help you?” His answer is, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.”
This was the church in Laodicea. It can be us today, if all we focus on is our strengths and successes, without also a blunt reappraisal of our weaknesses. But the Lord is saying, “I’m that faint voice you can barely hear any more. I’m outside your church, knocking on your door. You didn’t even notice it when I left. But if anyone in there is listening, just open the door and I will come in. I will befriend you. Others in the church might join us. But all I’m asking for is one open, honest heart.”
He is ready to renew any church if anyone there is willing to start admitting, “I am not rich, I have not prospered, and I need everything.”