Lukewarm? Who, Me? - From His Heart - November 21
LUKEWARM? WHO, ME?
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were 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
Have you noticed how lukewarm drinks are just not appealing? Lukewarm coffee, tea, or lemonade is just ... yuck! We like hot coffee, hot tea, and ice-cold lemonade. Lukewarm drinks typically get spit out of our mouths.
SO IT IS WITH GOD
In Revelation 3, Jesus writes a letter to the church in Laodicea. It was a church that was financially rich, living high on the hog. They seemed to have it all together. Their needs were nil, or so they thought. In truth, they had a huge unseen problem: They were lukewarm in their relationship with Jesus. Their lukewarm attitude toward the King of kings and Lord of lords literally made Jesus want to vomit (“spit” in Revelation 3:16 is the Greek word, emeō, which means “to vomit”).
Do you know what it means to be spiritually lukewarm? It means you have a ho-hum attitude with regard to the Lord. It means you are more excited about your job, your golf game, your sports team, your TV show, your children, or your whatever than you are about the Savior of the world. It means you are spiritually complacent and apathetic to your desperate, daily need of Jesus Christ and His love, grace and power.
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, the great preacher of yesteryear, called lukewarm worship “the worst form of blasphemy.” Ouch!
GROW OR DIE
Sometime ago, a friend introduced me to this convicting spiritual directive—grow or die. There is no middle ground. No Christian ever stays the same spiritually. He or she either grows in the Lord or starts backsliding in the Lord. You are either moving closer to the Lord or falling away from Him. You are either getting warmer or getting colder. Which one is true for you?
As you honestly assess your life, if you are not growing more and more in love with Jesus, something is wrong. If you have no burden to know Him better and walk more closely with Him, it is time to come to grips with a harsh and unpleasant reality: You have gotten lukewarm.
PRAYER FOR THE LUKEWARM
If you have fallen into the ditch of lukewarm devotion, the time is now to get out! The Lord wants to deliver you from this nauseating state. He wants you to have a white-hot passion to know Christ and make Him known. So, what do you do with a lukewarm heart? You pray a prayer like this one:
Lord Jesus, as I honestly look at my heart, I can see that my love for You has cooled. I am more excited about other things than I am about You. This is a terrible sin, Lord. I am so sorry. Please forgive me, cleanse me and change me. Do a fresh work in my heart, Jesus. Help me see anew Your great love for me displayed on the cross. Set my soul on fire for You. I reject all passivity and lukewarmness in my walk with You. I choose to seek You as I would seek hidden treasure, because You alone are worthy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
My friend, if you'll pray a prayer like that, then you can be sure that your relationship with the Lord is going to experience a major spike in temperature.
Love,
Pastor Jeff Schreve,
From His Heart Ministries
Dr. Jeff Schreve believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life, God still loves you and has a wonderful plan just for you. From His Heart provides real truth, love and hope on over 700 radio stations each day, in 182 countries each week on TV, and is always available online. Pastor Jeff takes no income from this ministry. All donations go to furthering the broadcast outreach. As a listener/viewer supported ministry, we thank you for joining with us to help speak the truth in love to a lost and hurting world. Go to www.fromhisheart.org for more information.
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