"Be vigilant, and keep the remaining things that you were about to throw away. For I have not found your works perfect before God." What is The Lord referring to when he speaks about - "the things you were about to throw away"? He spoke this to a church that had a reputation for being alive - but He saw that they were dead.
Evidently, they had so neglected some good works that they were ready to throw them away altogether. What works could the Risen Lord have been referring to, and more importantly, is it possible that we might be in danger of doing the same thing without realizing it? They were so unaware of their neglect that they failed to even recognize it, but the One who knew their works saw it clearly. We are told -"the wisdom of the wise is to examine their ways", perhaps we should look to see if there are any works we have so neglected that we have nearly discarded them altogether.
Consider the good work of prayer and fasting - how often do we join together with other brothers to fast and pray? Have we nearly thrown this good work away? How often to we gather to pray WITH other brothers and sisters? It is a good work to pray FOR others, but what about the good work of praying WITH others? Is assembling together once a week for prayer and worship really the same as devoting ourselves to prayer with other brothers like the early church is described as doing? If we seldom or rarely ever do something - have we not almost thrown it out?
What statement are we making about the importance of fasting and prayer with other saints by how often we practice it? One thing is for sure, we do not naturally pursue or practice the things we care very little about; perhaps UN-conscientiously we have nearly thrown away certain good works that we no longer value. May The Lord give us insight into any good works we have so neglected that we don't even miss doing them anymore.
The church of Sardis had so neglected some things that it did not even trouble them - but it was VERY troubling to our Lord. He warned them that if they did not repent of their lack of concern over some matters, and become vigilant about them again, He would come to them like a thief in the night and thieves don't come to bring a blessing, they come to take things away that are valuable.