“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were either cold or hot.” ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16 NASB)
Running. The first mile or so is a warm up. A stretching of the legs of sorts. After a few miles the body begins to get into a rhythm. You begin to know how far in miles you have gone without looking at the watch. For me, I know because I am tired and I am ready for a walk break. Ready for a big ol’ gulp of ice cold water. The device I use keeps my water pretty cold for a little while but after several miles, once the sun mixes with the warmth of my hand, it becomes lukewarm. I remember taking a swig and grimacing. Because I wanted to have enough fluid to finish out the run I didn’t spit it out. But the taste of lukewarm water was not satisfying to me. It just wasn’t what I was looking for. Not effective in quenching my thirst. Lukewarm Gatorade is even worse. It gets foamy….yuck.
Just for the sake of this message I decided to look up the definition of lukewarm in the Holman Bible Dictionary. This is what it said.
Lukewarm: Tepid: neither hot nor cold.
Not much wordage but a massive amount of meaning. Jesus used this to describe His church in Laodicea. The group of believers there were complacent. Did very little and mostly served themselves and their desires. They just had lost their fire. Isnt that what comomly happens to believers? Maybe not all but many, right? It happened to me and I taught within the church I was attending. I sang with the praise team, too. Often we go through the motions of a church-going believer, but our actions seldom match what we say we believe. Who we want to be. So who are we? Chosen. Loved. Bought with the very precious blood of Christ. Redeemed and atoned through His sacrificial death over 2000 years ago. Rescued from what we deserve without Him. Bought. With blood. Why does this not keep us excited once we ask Jesus to live in us?
This is a question we must ask ourselves and pray over. Ask the one who loves you most what has stolen your joy. Your fire. He will reveal it to you. For me it was a self-seeking desire to fulfill my needs. That desire became stronger to me than the desire my Jesus wanted for me. But He will call you to His side. He will answer the heart’s cry for understanding when you choose to seek him. He promises us this in the book of James. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. (James 4:8 NKJV)
Laodicea wasn’t pleasing to the Master and He said He would spit them out of His mouth. They were not effective for the Kingdom of God. Desire to be hot. Desire to show others your fire. After all, we know what fire does…it heats things up. Cleanses and purifies. Makes ready to be used for something very good and tasty. Ooooh…like a cup of hot pumpkin flavored coffee!!!
Disciples In Disguise 