Daily Devotional For September 14, 2025
And the angel swung his sickle into the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. They trampled the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out from the winepress up to the horses’ bridle for about 1600 stadia. Rev 14:19-20.
It was my first day in ministry. The personal witness mentor of the church organization where I had been hired offered to spend the day with me. Not having a high degree of confidence in how to approach people, I was delighted to accept. He suggested that he would take the lead at first in showing me how to knock on doors and engage the people in conversation. We would be distributing health magazines the first day.
The magazine he brought that day had information about the dangers of smoking. On the cover were two pictures, one of a healthy lung and the other of a lung seriously corroded by decades of smoking. When a person came to the door he would show them the front of the magazine and ask, “Do you smoke?” If the person did, he would point to the pictures and say, “Here is a healthy lung and here is a smoker’s lung.” The people we visited would invariably react with horror and disgust. They accepted the free magazine with eagerness.
I returned the next week with him to “follow up.” Every person who had accepted a magazine had quit smoking! The view of the pictures and the accompanying text was so arresting that they were motivated to drastic action. Most of them thanked us profusely for drawing this information to their attention. They were confident that our visit had led them to increased control over their decisions and choices.
I kept visiting these homes and bringing more magazines on various subjects. But a surprising thing happened a couple of weeks later. All the people who had quit smoking sheepishly admitted that they had started up again about two weeks after the initial contact. Evidently fear is a powerful motivator, but the effect of fear seems to last only about two weeks!
The image of the winepress in this text is truly horrific. John seems determined to scare anyone sitting on the fence of indecision into radical obedience to Christ. The lines are clearly drawn, the wicked will be destroyed, and those who are wise will choose Christ NOW and reordered their lives NOW. Fear as a motivator is powerful, but it doesn’t last. If reading Revelation has motivated you to a changed life, don’t hesitate or make a half-hearted decision. You need to go all out while the motivation lasts. If you commit fully to Christ and re-orient your life, there is a chance that new habits will form and you can break through the wall of weakness when the fear wears off. “Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”1
Lord, help me not to shy away from drastic action today.
1 Last paragraph based in part on Keener, 380.