What’s your favorite– hot or iced coffee? Or are you like me and prefer hot in cold weather and iced in warm weather? We all seem to have a preference, and we may even have heated debates about the merits of either. One thing we can probably agree about is our abhorrence of lukewarm coffee. Anyone else out there regularly take a sip from their mug only to find that it has become tepid? When that happens to me, I have to fight the urge to spit it out– it’s so disgusting to me.
This is how God tells John in Revelation 3:15-16 to describe the church in Laodicea. He says, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (ESV). The New King James version uses the term “vomit”. Gross, right? That certainly makes it clear how God feels about His people being wishy-washy about their commitment to Him. It should make us seriously, thoughtfully, and prayerfully consider our commitment.
Are we truly committed to Christ, with all the challenges and potential persecution that comes with a life that is obedient to Him? Or, like the church of Laodicea, do we see our relationship with Jesus as something we do on Sundays, or just as an adornment in our lives? Nancy Guthrie, in her book Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation, puts it this way, “He was disgusted by the fact that they seemed to have no sense of their desperate need for him. They saw Jesus as merely a nice addition to all of the things in their life that brought them comfort and security and enjoyment.” Revelation 3:17 says, “For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing’, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked”.
You and I need Jesus. Desperately. Do we believe that? Do we live like it, or would Jesus say the same to us as He said to the Laodicean church?
This week, ask God to reveal to you whether your heart is committed to Him or if you are lukewarm.