First published on Monday, December 6, 2010
These comments are based on Revelation 3
For today's comments, I choose to discuss the most famous statement from Revelation Chapter 3.
I know what you do, that you're neither hot nor cold. You should be either hot or cold!
I know that I spent a good deal of my life going for the mediocre. Perhaps we all could say that. Taking a marriage that you know is going to be a project, is lukewarm. Making career choices that you know are not in your talents, is lukewarm.
Having a vision, but putting it on hold for years, because you are concerned about how others will receive it, is lukewarm.
We have got to do what's right, and to trust God to make the right outcome.
Look, we confuse worldly "hot" with godly "hot." I have seen a number of young men and women basically ruin their lives, for choosing as a spouse someone that's "hot." But then this "hot" match becomes to them a lifetime of spiritual mediocrity, when their partner doesn't support, even fights against, their Christian walk. The really hot spouse is the one that can turn you onto the godly life. One that sets you aflame with passion for the Lord.
How many of us thought that a "hot" career was one that brought in the big bucks? I wanted thirty years of success in business and government, during which I would accumulate great wealth that could be lavished upon God's work in the final third of my career. This is not hot. It is mediocre. The really hot careers are the ones where you are on the front lines, building the Kingdom. When that is your mission, the rewards take care of themselves. Salary doesn't matter, for that is not the point.
These decisions were not for "cold." They were mediocre, for they attempted to mix the World and the Lord. A cold decision is one that pursues worldy ends with no regard for the Lord.
I was lukewarm. And so are many of you.
I know what you do, that you're neither hot nor cold. You should be either hot or cold!
I know that I spent a good deal of my life going for the mediocre. Perhaps we all could say that. Taking a marriage that you know is going to be a project, is lukewarm. Making career choices that you know are not in your talents, is lukewarm.
Having a vision, but putting it on hold for years, because you are concerned about how others will receive it, is lukewarm.
We have got to do what's right, and to trust God to make the right outcome.
Look, we confuse worldly "hot" with godly "hot." I have seen a number of young men and women basically ruin their lives, for choosing as a spouse someone that's "hot." But then this "hot" match becomes to them a lifetime of spiritual mediocrity, when their partner doesn't support, even fights against, their Christian walk. The really hot spouse is the one that can turn you onto the godly life. One that sets you aflame with passion for the Lord.
How many of us thought that a "hot" career was one that brought in the big bucks? I wanted thirty years of success in business and government, during which I would accumulate great wealth that could be lavished upon God's work in the final third of my career. This is not hot. It is mediocre. The really hot careers are the ones where you are on the front lines, building the Kingdom. When that is your mission, the rewards take care of themselves. Salary doesn't matter, for that is not the point.
These decisions were not for "cold." They were mediocre, for they attempted to mix the World and the Lord. A cold decision is one that pursues worldy ends with no regard for the Lord.
I was lukewarm. And so are many of you.
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