“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.”

Revelation 3:18-19

How can I please the Lord of heaven and earth? How can a sinful person please the holy God?

He tells us to repent. He counsels us to come to Him and buy gold refined in the fire so that we can become rich. This is not earthly gold, to make us rich in this world’s terms, but the gold of holiness and righteousness that makes us rich towards God. Only then are we able to enter His presence to praise Him, worship Him and put our petitions to Him.

We also need the garments of purity and holiness to cover our nakedness before the Lord. In our natural selves we are naked and covered with shame, but God takes away our shame, by covering us with His robes of righteousness. These were bought for us with the precious blood of Christ. Jesus our Saviour covers us with the robe of His righteousness and makes us worthy to stand before the Father who sits on the throne of heaven.

Our eyes are naturally blind towards God, and we do not understand His ways, His person, or anything about Him at all. We are blind and do not want to see the Lord, for He is not like us. He is high and lifted up and our Creator and we are afraid of Him, because we are sinful. We should seek the eye salve of salvation, to cure our blindness and clear our vision so that we can see the king in all His beauty. Only when our view of the Lord Jesus and what happened on that cross at Calvary is clear, are we able to truly see. The only way to get this is through repenting of our sin and putting out faith in Jesus and what He has done for us.

We will never seek these blessings on our own. We must experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the chastening of the Lord, to bring us to Christ in the first place. Throughout our Christians lives, we experience the reproof of the Lord, as He teaches us and and directs our footsteps to Him and not to another. He does this because He loves us and does not leave us on our own to work it out. He is a loving God and will supply all of these amazing remedies for our needs, if we will but come to Him.

We will find Him to be our loving God, our Saviour and Lord and He will empower us to live righteous lives for His glory and for our good.

Be zealous therefore, and repent…