Hot springs is a never heard of in India or experienced in India. A Hot Spring is where the water coming out from the spring naturally is Hot, further way from the hot springs the water is Lukewarm - that’s neither Hot nor Cold, ideal for our body, we feel comfortable with that water temperature to wet our legs or swim in the water for some time. As it’s a natural source , water temperature stays like that throughout the year even in summer and winter days. There are many Hot Sprints in USA, People who live in US may have experienced this hot springs.
God gave me this burden to write this message on Lukewarm when meditating Revelation 3: 14-21.
Revelation 3: 14-21, John writes this to the Church of Laodicea, A Quick background of Laodicea, in today’s world is in Turkey, back then it was an important and wealthy City with a significant Jewish population. Like other cities in the region, it was a centre for Caesar worship and the worship of the healing god named “Asklepios”. One of their problems was a poor water supply that made Laodicea vulnerable to attack through siege. Therefore, the leaders of Laodicea were always accommodating to any potential enemy, and always wanted to negotiate and compromise instead of fight. Because the water came from hot springs, it arrived unappetizingly lukewarm. Paul mentions about this church in Colossians 2:1 and 4:16.
Lukewarm
The passage was written for Laodicea, but it’s still relevant to what we do today.
'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. ' Revelation 3:15-16
“that you are neither cold “ - So what is Cold in spiritual sense – it’s a state of not knowing Jesus as Lord our saviour and not having Faith in Jesus.
“that you are neither cold nor hot “ - So what is Hot in spiritual sense – It’s a state of having faith in Jesus and Zealous for God in every aspects of our life. life that’s fully God Centric. Example of this would be a life of John, Paul as we read in Bible.
“because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold “ - In a spiritual sense, lukewarmness is a picture of indifferenceand compromise. It tries to play the middle, too hot to be cold and too cold to be hot. In trying to be both things. Yes dears, many of us are like this in our Christian life.
The lukewarm Christian has enough of Jesus to satisfy a craving for religion with ritualistic life, but not enough for eternal life.
They satisfy the religious duty by just going to church doing what is customary and not truly doing things according to spirits will, very culture centric to do what traditions tell to do, they miss the point on why God created them and why they are there in first place.
They have prayer-meetings, but there are few present, for they like quiet evenings home. When more attend the meetings they are still very dull, for they do their praying very deliberately and are afraid of being too excited in God to show their emotions in front of others.
They may have Bible-classes, preaching rooms, and all sorts of godly work, but they might as well be without them, for no energy is displayed and no good comes of them.
The pastor in the church may be a shining light of eloquence, but he certainly is not a burning light of grace, setting their congregation’s hearts on fire.
Everything is done in a half-hearted, listless, dead-and-alive way, as if it did not matter much whether it was done or not.
Lukewarm Christians are righteous in their own eyes.
Let us reflect our life to see if we live like that in our spiritual life, as the word says, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” We live in the last days, let’s not invite the wrath of God, to spit out of his mouth and get the anger of God on our lives. As you read God is extremely displeased with a lukewarm Christian living.
Spiritual Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a state of going out of business, losing all the things that they have.
'You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ' Revelation 3:17
Another character for us to reflect if we live in this lukewarm attitude is to analyze and see if we have the following characters to be spiritually bankrupt
“‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.”
The church at Laodicea lacked a sense of spiritual poverty. They looked at their spiritual condition and said “rich.” They looked again and said “wealthy.” They looked a third time and said, “We have need of nothing.” As we understand it was a wealthy city and most of them would be wealthy.
The Laodiceans put their trust in material prosperity, in outward luxury, and in physical health. Yes, we are also like them, we depend on our wealth and many times behave like the Laodicean church and have this lukewarm attitude in us, with no zeal for Jesus
Contrast to their view of “Rich”, Jesus viewed them as “But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
Wretched – Jesus viewed their life worthless, their riches meant nothing to Jesus. Because richness of the world cannot get you a ticket to heaven.
Pitiful – Jesus viewed their life pathetic, horrible.
Poor – Jesus viewed their spiritual life Poor, whereas they viewed themselves Rich.
Blind – Jesus sees them as blind, as they are tied by Satan’s actions of worldly living.
Naked – Jesus saw them Naked, all their sinful desires, the lust from the wealth everything was so naked in his eyes.
What an awakening view that John has written to us. Just reflect this state in your life to see if you live a life like that to know how God’s view is for your life.
God’s Calling
Because he loves us, he tells us this message of Repentance and turning our spiritual life to be hot like how he expects.
' Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ' Revelation 3:19
All he asks is to repent – repent from your heart and come back to him, walk with him closely
Once you repent and come to him, he will change you, this is the promise he gives to us as we return to him from a lukewarm to hot state or from cold to hot state.
Once you return to him, he gives this promise
'I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ' Revelation 3:18
“'I counsel you” – As you seek him daily and walk with him, he will Counsel you. As you get counselled by God, your life will change from Lukewarm to hot.
“buy from me gold refined in the fire” - For a gold to shine it needs to be brunt in fire to see the gold shine, as you walk with him, he will burn your desires and lite up the zealous in Jesus to see the fire of Jesus shine in us like gold.
“so you can become rich “ – Rich that’s described here is not the worldly sense of Rich and living a luxurious life, he will make us spiritually rich, return from a state of spiritually bankrupt to spiritually rich
“and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness” – if we receive the purity of Jesus, the righteousness of him will clothe us and protect us from the shameful naked things we get exposed in the world. We start to live a life accountable to Jesus.
“so you can see” – The blindness caused by Satan is cut loose and we see all the tricks / deceptions that Satan brings in our life and avoid being a lukewarm christian, be alter and sober as described in 1 Peter 5:8
So, all you need is to reexamine your life, analyze every aspect of your life, the church you go, the ways you live, is your life a Cold life in Jesus? or a lukewarm life in Jesus? or Hot life in Jesus?
If it’s Cold or Lukewarm – repent and return your ways to Jesus.
If it’s hot continue to live a humble life in God, re-examine your life to lead a perfect and holy life thats pleasing to God, live a zealous like Paul, a life dedicated for Jesus, be alter and sober mind not to slide to a lukewarm state, as the word says
'Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ' 1 Peter 5:8
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