Luke-Warm

Revelation 3:14-16

"These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

I don't know if you are familar with these words. They are often quoted in sermons and Bible studies, but they have always confused me. I understand why hot is better than lukewarm, but why is cold better than lukewarm? After all, isn't it better to have a little warmth toward God...even if it is just a little?

I had Sunday school teachers use an analogy to help me understand. "I like hot tea. I like iced tea. I don't really like lukewarm tea. That is how God is with us." Well, I understood this analogy for delicious beverages, but it didn't really help me to understand why someone who is lukewarm toward God would be worse off than someone who is cold toward God.

Recently I was thinking about this. I was thinking about water. When you take water out of the ground it is around 52 degrees. I would call this cool or even cold (how would you like to swim in 52 degree water?). So, water starts out cold. For water to become lukewarm it must be exposed to a source of heat. It must remain connected to that source of heat long enough to start experiencing changes caused by that heat. After it has experienced those changes the water must be then removed from the source of heat to keep it from becoming hot.

So what does this have to do with God?

There is only one way that a person can become a lukewarm Christian.

We start out with no passion for Christ...we are cold. Sometime in our life we meet Christ. We stay close to him and he begins to change us. He begins to kindle a fire and a passion in us for God. Then, before we become hot, we remove ourselves from this close intimate relationship. We are luke warm.

There is only one way that a person can become a lukewarm Christian. We must experience the love and grace of Christ, begin to change, and then say, "No thanks. I'm not really interested."

I now understand why lukewarm Christians are such a turnoff for God. In John 15:4 Jesus says, "Remain in me and I will remain in you."

Remain in Christ today.