| | Caffeinated Life - Episode 6
Keep it hot (or cold)
As much as I love coffee, I’m not able to stomach lukewarm coffee. For some reason, it just doesn’t seem to go down. I like my coffee piping hot – barely drinkable.  Some people (especially in warmer parts of the country) like it iced. But I don’t know anyone who likes lukewarm, room-temperature coffee. The thought of trying to get the stuff down makes me gag!
I’m sure most of you can see where I’m going here. The spiritual parallel is pretty obvious.
Revelation 3:15-16
"I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!”
The NLT takes it easy on us by using the word “spit” although that is still pretty strong. The actual translation is closer to “spew” or “vomit”. Living a lukewarm Christian life turns God’s stomach.
 Now any of you reading this who are like me - in that I like to analyze everything - would have a problem with this passage. You see, I could never figure out why Jesus would want any Christian to be cold in their relationship with him. Cold brings to mind words like distant, turned-off, and lifeless. Hot, sure I could understand that. Who wouldn't want to be fired-up in their relationship with God? But cold? No way! So I did a little research into this passage.
It turns out that the city of Laodicea was located along a main Roman thoroughfare, so it was highly trafficked. It was one of the most influential cities in the empire due to its extreme affluence. They had a booming textile industry and had made significant breakthroughs in early forms of opthamology - including a healing salve to put on the eyes. The main thing the city lacked was a fresh water source. The only source of water it had was from hot springs many miles away. By the time the water would get to the city, it was tepid, lukewarm, and very unpleasant. Cold water was refreshing and invigorating. Hot water from the springs was medicinal and was known to bring relief for a variety of illnesses. But lukewarm water was absolutely worthless – it had no value. More than that, it was downright unpleasant!
God doesn't want anyone to be distant from Him - He never intended this passage to even intimate that. What God does want is for His body to be full of life and ready to be used by Him as light and salt in this world. Believers who are useless to God turn the stomach of God! So what could cause us to slide into "useless" territory? Let's look back at a Scripture from the last blog entry...
Titus 1:15-16
“Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are defiled. Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are despicable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.”
Keep the filters up and you will have a good start. Let me give you a couple other areas to keep watch over (taken from a sermon I heard a few years ago from Herbert Cooper)
Several things will cause a Christian to slide into lukewarm territory:
Moral compromiseLack of a devotional lifeLack of church attendanceAllowing sin to stay in your lifeLosing an others-focused life
Stay close to the fire. Live where things are happening. Turn up the heat on your relationship with God and live life far from the lukewarm.
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| | Posted 8/21/2006 11:10 AM - 39 views - 25 comments
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