Today, Tuesday March 08
Don’t Make God Sick Revelation 3:14-17 "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—“
The Church in the city of Laodicea is representative of the complacent church. The church that looked fine on the outside but on the inside was wretched and miserable in the sight of Jesus. It was the “lukewarm” church and it was making God sick! I’m afraid this is the condition of many churches and even believers today!
The Lord told this church that He would rather they be cold or hot, one of the two extremes, than to be in the middle between the two. Here’s a good question. How does a hot cup of coffee become lukewarm? How does a glass of ice tea become lukewarm? The answer is simple! It happens gradually. I don’t know how others do it, but I can’t drink a cup of streaming hot coffee. I have to wait for it to cool down and sometimes I wait too long and by the time I take a drink it has become lukewarm and I have to heat it up again.
That is the same way a church or a believer becomes “lukewarm”. It happens so gradually that no one even notices it. We miss a day reading our Bible. We miss a Sunday going to church. We miss a day of not praying. Then before you know it, we miss a week of Bible and prayer, and a month of church. And the sad thing is, when we are asked about it, we make excuses. And more than often, we become deceived and tell ourselves that we are still pretty good Christians.
We are still sending our “tithe” in to the church. We can still talk the “Christian” talk with our Christian friends. But we have become deceived into thinking that we are as good a Christian as we ever were. James warned us of this in James 1:21-24: “…receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” It all started with pride! We have lost our “meek and humble” spirit and we can’t even see the real condition of our hearts! It has gradually become “lukewarm.”
Paul says in Romans 12 that we need to be careful not to “think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think” (12:3), and that, not only we should be serving the Lord, but we should be “fervent in spirit” (12:11)! We should be enthusiastic and energetic in our service for the Lord. This will only happen as the “fire” of the Holy Spirit burns through the Word of God in our hearts.
Jeremiah the prophet became so discouraged at one time in his service for God that he wanted to quit. But something happened! “Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.” (Jeremiah 20:9)
Oh my friend, that is what we need today! The Word of God set on fire in our hearts! We definitely don’t want to make God sick by being a complacent, lukewarm Christian! May the Lord help us today to have “burning hearts”.
God bless!