“A clear choice”
Because thou art lukewarm … I will spew thee out of my mouth. —Revelation 3:16
Read Revelation 3:14-21
Imagine you are very thirsty. Someone gives you a bottle of water that has been sitting in the sun for hours. You take a sip and find it is lukewarm, so you spit it out. How delicious the cold water you were longing for would have been!
The congregation of Laodicea was not hot or cold; they were lukewarm. They were not disinterested in God’s service; they were religious. But just as with Sardis, their works were not acceptable before God. Can this be said of your life?
According to the Bible it is better to be cold and careless than to be half hearted. A careless person can be seriously warned about his condition while a half hearted individual is often unreachable. Such people may not live outwardly ungodly lives. but they don’t serve God wholeheartedly either. The Lord despises such a life style.
If we attend church to soothe our conscience while our hearts are far from God, then in reality we are no better than those who are indifferent to religion, whose heart is as inflexible as stone. We can easily see that those who are not interested in religion are far from God; those who are lukewarm are hypocritical and can fool the godly, but they cannot fool God.
But notice what God says: “I will spew you out of My mouth.” The Lord will settle accounts with those who are lukewarm. This lukewarmness can be seen in different ways. It can look pious in public, but in private such people are the opposite.
Are you cold, lukewarm, or hot? The question is really “are you cold or hot?” because lukewarm is actually too cold.
To which category do you belong? How do you know this?