Just yesterday, my Pastor preached another powerful message from the Book of Revelation. I’d like to try and share a small part of it with you.

Revelation 3: 15-16 “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.”

Do you know that Jesus Himself is talking? Yes Jesus, the God of Love, and Mercy, and Forgiveness, and Grace, and Compassion. He IS all of those things and so much more, but He is also a God who will not accept a phony or an imposter. He is a Jealous God who is after ALL of our hearts. We will surely be able to fool many people many times, but be assured that we’ll never be able to fool Jesus Christ at any time. That is a very good thing.

Jesus is as serious as He can be, and these very words should cause us to shudder. What on earth could make the Perfect Son of God want to vomit? Only one thing: a person who is ‘lukewarm’.  Let’s clarify what cold and hot mean before we talk about lukewarm. In this passage, cold means that the person is a skeptic. They don’t believe in God, want nothing to do with God, and don’t mind saying so. Their heart is hard and closed to truth. The hot person is a committed follower of Jesus Christ; a person who has been altered so drastically by the new life of the Spirit of God that they are on fire for Him. They are clearly changed from the person they were before because of the Person who has taken up residence inside. The watching world therefore cannot ignore the image of the Son of God shine forth through the life of the child of God.

A lukewarm person is more repulsive to God than a cold person. That may be hard for us to understand, but the scripture is crystal clear. Could it be that a lukewarm ‘Christian’ carries the name of Christ but just goes through the motions? Could it be that there is no clear evidence of the Spirit of God, though the person’s words and external actions sometimes point to aspects of godly character? Could it be that when someone calls themselves a NEW creation but lives as an unredeemed soul, lost in a sea of worldliness and self fulfillment, that God is so dishonored that it makes Him ‘sick’? Or can it be that one of His own actually has allowed the fire of Jesus to die down so low that nobody can tell that they are His?

Can you see the truth in this? Anything less than absolute commitment, a singular focus, consistent devotion, radical commitment, consuming love, and the utmost honor to the Lord Jesus Christ is ‘lukewarm’. It is a term that doesn’t even belong associated with His name. He is everything that is good and holy and worthy, and He is deserving of absolutely everything that we possess; first and foremost that thing that drives our desires: our hearts.

A cold person rejects God and doesn’t pretend any differently. He is lost but he is true to his choice. A hot person completely embraces Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord, Master, Father, and Friend. He too is true to his choice. But lukewarm is a betrayal to the very name of Christ. It is an offense that will not go unpunished.

For Today: If you were really thirsty would you want a cold bottle of water from the fridge or one that was sitting on the counter? After a hard day at work do you want to shower in lukewarm water or do you want it to be on the hotter side so that your muscles can relax? Cold and hot are separate; they are opposites. It is obviously ok for us to ‘mix’ the two when we are speaking of water temperature, but we CANNOT do so with the Lord. There is no in between with Jesus, no little of this/little of that…ever.

Friends, we must guard our hearts and lives against adding hot to what is cold and telling others that ‘this’ is what a follower of Jesus Christ looks like; and we must guard our hearts and lives against adding cold water to what was once hot.

What is your temperature? ……God knows it and He wants you to know it too.

Please give this some serious consideration and prayer…don’t skim over it. Determine where you are now and where you want to be. By God’s grace many today can move from cold to hot and from lukewarm to hot.

Think about this as well: JESUS never even thought the smallest drop of ‘cold’ for you as He hung on that cross to pay for your sins…the fire of love for YOU burned within Him and kept Him there until all that He came for was accomplished. Praise God, He didn’t mix anything with the passion and purpose He brought to this earth.

      Will you do the same in return?