Lukewarm

Recently, after a long workout, I was looking forward to soaking my fatigued muscles in a hot bath. I couldn’t wait for the steamy water to soothe my aching joints and blissfully “take me away,’ like those old Calgon commercials. 

Few things feel as amazing as a revitalizing hot bath. Floating the stress and exhaustion away, watching the steam rise around you, carrying with it the toxins from your body, mind, and soul. Within seconds, the heat wakes up all your senses. 

Temperature matters: heat is the change agent. 

But on this particular day, a significant detail stood in the way of that personal ecstasy….sadly, someone had already used up all the hot water. 

There I was, ready to embrace this desirable experience, and yet, all that came from the tap, was lukewarm water. I tried in vain to adjust the handles, but to no avail. The heat was gone. The bath was useless. Frustration was building as I grew angry with whomever had used up the precious hot water. I just stood there, annoyed, wishing the temperature were different. 

It’s pretty frustrating, isn’t it?

“What?” I answered the familiar voice.

The water being lukewarm, it’s pretty useless, isn’t it?

“Yes, it is.”

This is how I feel about My church.

(Selah)

Goosebumps ordered the hairs on my arms to stand at attention as I was frozen by this holy epiphany. The Lord revealed to me what He was warning the church at Sardis in the book of Revelation. And for the first time, I fully understood His righteous anger. 

“So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:16 AMP)

At that moment, I no longer desired a reprieve for my tired muscles, so much as I wanted to know if my faith was on fire. I asked the Lord to search my heart, wanting to know if I had become as lackluster as my disappointing bathwater. Had my zeal for Him waned? Was I as passionate about the gospel as I claim to be?  Does my faith encourage others to trust Jesus, and to follow Him? Do I fan the flames of His goodness to those around me who need hope? Do I live what I say I believe? Am I allowing God to use me to further the gospel? 

 Or do I seamlessly blend in with the world around me? 

It’s a question, I believe, each one of us needs to ask ourselves as believers. Do we show up to church on Sunday, but not spend any time in solitude Monday through Saturday, asking the Lord to transform our hearts? 

Now more than ever, there is too much at stake to live lukewarm. 

In A.W. Tozer’s words, “One compromise here, another there, and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same.” 

Complacency is the warm water lulling us to sleep. Rather than allowing God to change us from one degree of glory to the next, we are filling the proverbial bathtub of our hearts with one degree of cooler water than the one before. This is how the enemy works. A slow trickle that changes our core temperature, and we don’t even notice. We’ve become comfortably numb with lukewarm.

Without heat, we become desensitized to the ways of the world. We make friends with it, forsaking our First Love, accepting what breaks God’s heart. Without passion, our witness fades into the background, and we care more about fitting in than speaking out against injustice and calling sin, sin. “I have this against you, you have forsaken your first love.” (Revelation 2:4)

Woe to us when we sacrifice conviction for copesetic living. Forgive us Lord when we mindlessly settle for the lukewarm status quo rather than pursuing You with passion. The world suffers for our indifference. And the church grows colder because our fire has gone out. 

So how do we fan the flames of the gospel like Paul told us to do? (2 Timothy 1:6)

Invite His holy fire to fall fresh on us daily, and fervently fan the flames. 

When we grow spiritually, the church grows. And when the church grows, the world feels it’s passion and sees her as the Bride of Christ: radiant, pure, and holy. And this heat, the heat of a fiery heart for Jesus, is the change agent we so desperately need. 

Let’s resolve today, we will not live lukewarm.