The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk about. Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing. Revelation 9:20-21
New English Translation
In Revelation 9, more terrors have occurred as judgment is laid upon the earth for its sinful ways. Yet, by the end of the chapter we read that after all the heartbreak and pain, still many do not repent and return to God. That’s crazy to think about. The entire time people know that God is punishing the earth for rejecting Him and hurting His beloved (all of us), but nothing changes.
Have you ever been in a relationship where you did everything for the other person, essentially treated them like royalty, but in return all they did was treat you like garbage? That’s what God deals with on a regular basis. God did everything for us. He created a beautiful world, granted us freewill, and even made a way to salvation through Christ after we messed everything up. Yet, many times we turn from Him, reject His gifts, and continue to sin. That alone is hard, but imagine when you finally tell that person that they’ve been hurting you and they still keep doing it. Talk about kicking a guy while he’s down. When we experience God’s corrective judgment and don’t change after that, we’re treating God just like that friend who ignores you when you tell them how they’ve made you feel.
I don’t know about you, but generally speaking, when I’ve had friends like that, it isn’t long before we’re not friends anymore. However, with God, He doesn’t give up so easily. That’s the beauty of who He is. He is love, and that love is always extended to us, but we’re the ones who determine whether we will live inside or outside that love. In Revelation 9 when the people didn’t return to God, they decided to live outside God’s love. What about you? Do you choose to live inside or outside God’s love?
There are two sides to the coin we need to consider here: 1. how we’re treating God and 2. what we’re doing to ourselves. Like we already talked about, when God is making it clear that we’ve stepped outside of His love, we’re given the opportunity to either change our ways and beginning loving Him back or continue ignoring Him and hurting Him. Also, when we decide to reject God, we’re no longer under His guidance and we begin to live in selfishness, which only results in us hurting ourselves and others. All the way around, it’s just a bad choice.
Here’s my question for you: how are you treating God? Are you stepping into His love and honoring Him in return? Or are you ignoring the warning signs so you can keep doing the things your way? Let’s remember that even people who read the Bible every day and can teach a theology class can still reject God… let’s not forget the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, who had Jesus crucified. I don’t want you to miss God’s warnings because you think your religious mindset exempts you from this self-eval. Be honest and open with yourself, and just be real with God. When you notice that He’s prompting you to change, don’t tune Him out and keep doing life the way you always have. He’s ready and willing to help you change. There is no time like the present to step into God’s love and love Him in return.