Recently I was in a conversation about the dangers of not realizing how relaxed you have become with the world around you. As I was talking to this person about these things, Revelation 3:15-17 came up. This a passage I know well, and if I looked back on the history of my blogs I believe I have even used it before to talk about where you stand with God and how He views that. But that day, while in that conversation, God began to give me a vision of that verse and this morning I felt like He released me to share that as a blog.
Revelation 3:15-17 says "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...". It is a verse that has been preached on many times in services I have sat through and a verse that I think is overlooked far to many times. It is God Himself telling us His opinion on the life of a person who is "living way to comfortable" in this world. Now we know that our salvation is a gift and it cannot be earned. The love of God and the gift of Jesus Christ can only be accepted or rejected, but not earned or worked for. And in the church we often talk about how your works cannot get you into heaven, only your faith can. But we also know that James 2:14-26 explains how faith without works is dead faith. Then we can go to Matthew 7:15-20 and read about how our lives will either produce good fruit on bad fruit as a byproduct of our faith. Which brings me back to Revelation 3:15, where it states "I know your works". God is saying, I see by the good fruit or the bad fruit where you stand (you walk in faith or you don't), but what about you who are producing no fruit? Those are the people that are in such a dangerous place. Maybe you accepted Christ and have grown stagnant, or weary, or even through some storm in your life you have grown bitter and just stopped growing in Christ. Regardless of what has gotten you there, you are at this neutral place called "lukewarm" and you feel a false sense of security. Why is this a false place of safety? Because the enemy is separating slowly from the flock (John 10:16) and getting you to a place of vulnerability without you even knowing it. That is the scary part about becoming lukewarm, that it is a slow progress and rarely do you even recognize it's coming on. The life you began to live when you met Jesus that was producing good fruit has now become a fruitless life, like a dead limb on a tree that is still living. But because you are not producing bad fruit you do not see a problem with it. But God does! And He strongly tells us in Rev. 3 that it makes Him want to vomit us out of His mouth. Sometimes we have arrogantly reached a place in our spirit where we think we are without need and it tells us in verse 17 that we do not know how wretched, miserable and blind we have become. So what do we do? We take a hard look at our lives and get honest with God before we become completely lost.
So as I stated earlier, God revealed something to me in the conversation about being lukewarm, and this was it. Have you ever sat in your house and been cold. You know your cold and you know your uncomfortable. So what do you do, you go turn on the heat so you can change your environment, right? Or how about sitting in your house and your hot, you feel hot, you know your hot, so you turn on the a/c, and change your environment. In both of those scenarios you know you are either cold or you are hot, no question about it. But how about when you are sitting in your house and your just comfortable. Does that even cross your mind? Do you stop and think "wow, I'm really comfortable"? No, not typically. You are just comfortable with no desire to turn up the heat, or turn on the a/c. So changing your environment is the last thing on your mind. However, when you do need to turn on the heat or a/c what do you know is going to happen next. Your bill is going to go up. Yes, it is going to cost you something. Sometimes we even hesitate to change the environment because we are trying to avoid that bill (or that cost). Life with Christ is very much like this, when God is calling us to change our "environment" it often times is going to cost us something. You are not going to be as "comfortable" with your surroundings as you once were. It may be the things you allow into your eyes and ears(movies, tv, music), or it may be an unhealthy friendship/relationship, or it may even be the changing of a career that He does not want you in. But when He calls you out, chances are something is going to change and it may cost you something. Will you respond? Or will you say "no thanks, I'm comfortable right here as is". God desires to see our lives produce good fruit. It is the sign that Christ is alive in you! Just like the evidence of bad fruit is the sign that someone is not with Christ. (Galatians 5:22-26)
So I challenge you today....don't let another day of just "being comfortable" pass by. Look at the fruit in your life and ask yourself "am I still producing, or have I become lukewarm?" (trying to fit into the world to much) Then ask the Holy Spirit to help get you back to being on fire for God. To search your heart and point out what needs changed. God says when your cold I at least know where you stand with me....and when your on fire I also know where you stand with me. Do you know where you stand with God? Would He call you cold, lukewarm or on fire?
God, You are so amazing! You share Your thoughts with us and tell us what pleases You and what disgusts You throughout Your word. Thank You for that! Thank You for not leaving us to guess what You expect and desire, but instead You guide and instruct us. Holy Spirit help us to rekindle the fire that once burned so strong, and live lives that produce not just good fruit....but GOD fruit. And allow others to see and desire what God has done in us. In Jesus name, Amen
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