Read Revelation 3:17.
There are without question those who are wealthy and resourceful, and without even realizing it, have come to depend solely on themselves. Unknowingly, they never express a need of help from anyone. They accomplish much through their own means. They possess much in the way of material goods. They are successful in the eyes of the world. They are talented; some might say “gifted.” These aren’t bad qualities. Most people are encouraged to realize their potential and make the most of it. (In fact, we even encourage it in the church.) This isn’t a bad thing, but of course it can turn into a bad thing when it leads to pride, self-reliance, and an utter independence from Christ. As said earlier, there are those who have come to this place without even realizing it. All that said, this was not the case with the Laodicean church – that is, they knew they were self-sufficient even to the point of boasting. I know a lot of people who are successful and self-sufficient, but they certainly don’t boast about it. Apparently, the church had gotten a little ahead of itself.
But whether or not one boasts of successes, there is a terrible consequence of self-sufficiency – one revealed in the Laodicean church. The Laodicean church had become blind to its real condition. They were “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Wealth and self-sufficiency has a way of blinding us to reality. It has a way of making us delusional. While we are striving for wealth and success and accomplishment, we can all the while dig for ourselves a hole. We may think we are getting better and better, reaching our potential, but in reality we are getting further and further from God, and we are becoming more and more wretched and miserable. Like Rehoboam who became king of Israel, he turned his power into a whip thinking he would become even greater. His attempted climb became the source of his fall (1 Kings 12).
Many of you who are reading this may be striving to fulfill your potential. That is a good thing. We are called to live our fullest for our God of all creation. However, we must be careful not to go the way of the Laodiceans, whose wealth and success blinded them to their spiritual poverty. As we excel in the eyes of the world, we must not forget that it is God who gives and takes away. Remember to give Him thanks continually in a humble, Christ-dependent walk. What does the Lord require of us: but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). If we will keep that in mind, perhaps the way of the Laodiceans won’t become inevitable.