The second beast was empowered to give life to the image of the first beast so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He also caused everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number. This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666. Revelation 13:15-18
New English Translation
Revelation 13 paints a pretty clear picture, when it comes to the beast; he expects full devotion and nothing less. His followers will give their entire lives, or they’re not his at all, and he’ll kill them. Pretty scary thought to think that people would be willing to give such devotion to such a great evil.
However, no matter how scary that is, it is really eye opening, too. Think about it. People are so willing to give their all, their entire being, to an evil beast, yet, there are times when we don’t want to give God our all. If even a great evil can receive full devotion, why shouldn’t the magnificent and all-powerful God of the universe receive our full devotion?
It can be hard at times because it feels like some areas of life are “less holy” and can be left untouched. Yet, there is nowhere in Scripture that God says He doesn’t want to be in those seemingly unspecial moments. Actually, if you read the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament, He practically shouts that He wants to be involved in everything in our world.
Think of it this way: have you ever had someone you really liked that you wanted to know everything and be a part of everything, no matter how dumb or small it is? That’s what it should be like with God. Someone fully devoted to God is going to look at the little things and see an opportunity to let God enter their lives, even if it’s just a small “thank you” to Him or a prayer moment that was unexpected.
What if we were marked by God? The beast had a mark for his followers, no one could mistake they were his, even if doing something as simple as shopping. What if the same were true for those who follow Christ? If we let God be the center of our existence, we could be so sold out for Him that no matter how normal the task, everyone can see we belong to Him.
Our moments with God don’t have to be major revivals. Sometimes, it’s just being nice to the person next to you because you know that they’re God’s beloved. Maybe it’s doing a task you really don’t like and doing it without grumbling. Don’t over complicate things, just let God be in your life.
So, this is my challenge to you: figure out what areas of your life you’re not fully devoted to God. Take time to intentionally identify why you’ve been trying to keep God out of that part of your life and ask Him to enter into it and transform that area of who you are. When we give ourselves fully to God, no one can deny who we follow. Let’s be a people that no one can deny belong to God.