by Jackie Morfesis –
The darkness revels at Christians afraid to shine their light. In fact, a fearful Christian is the devil’s playground.
I was blessed to have a mother, Lucia, memory eternal, who had the boldness to speak scriptural truth to me. She knew exactly what to say that would plant a seed in my heart that took root and would grow for years to come. I vividly remember her looking down at me as a child standing in our kitchen in New Jersey and telling me that God does not want the lukewarm.
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). Powerful words that every single one of us must take to heart. But what does it mean to be lukewarm? In this scripture, the lukewarm Christians of the church of Laodicea are being referenced, but it speaks directly to a tragedy that can affect all Christians, particularly in our time.
As a lover of God’s holy word, many times I hear one scripture and it brings to mind another. The admonishment to being lukewarm brings to mind: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The reason this scripture comes to mind is that fear is at the very root of why we are lukewarm.
We are lukewarm because we are fearful.
Fearful of what others may think of us.
Fearful of the whispers behind our backs.
Fearful of the stares indicating disapproval.
Fearful of the assumptions others may make about us.
Fearful of what we might lose or risk by standing in our faith.
But what we are also fearful of is our own light. The very Light that we were gifted at our baptism. The Light of the Holy Spirit within.
We have a million excuses why we are lukewarm. We say it is indicative our humility. Indicative of our lack of pride. Of our gentleness. But in truth, it is indicative of our complicity. Lack of faith. Lack of courage and cowardice. It is indicative of our diminishing of God’s power and love over our lives and not believing in His promises. God has no limitation. We are the ones who sinfully put limitations upon God. One day, we will all stand before the awesome judgment seat of God and Christ will have no lukewarmness as He boldly speaks on our behalf telling the Father of our fire or lack thereof.
I’m tired of the excuses. There are a million excuses. Why do we turn a blind eye? Why we shudder to speak. I have even heard from well-meaning Christians that they do not have the required intelligence or knowledge to speak about their faith, or to testify. Imagine being a Child of God, a disciple of Christ, and not feeling that we have the right to testify to our God and to what He has done in our lives and can do in the lives of others.
We must be cautious of absorbing and listening to lukewarm faith. The words and whispers of the darkness. They come to not only personally attack us, but they come to us through the mouths of others. There comes a time when it is not only righteous but holy to move away from whatever and whoever has the intention to speak falsehood and limitation over God’s power, love, and mercy. There is no shame in setting up boundaries for the adverse powers, even the adverse powers that work through the lives and words of others. Those who willingly and consciously choose to watch suffering and not have mercy. Who willingly know of injustice and choose to be silent. Those who choose to speak limitations not abundance.
We must be responsible for our gifts and our talents, using them with truth and compassion, without slander or malice, or the day may come when they are taken from us. This includes the gift of speech. We know very well that God will silence the tongues of the liars and deceivers. “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight” (Proverbs 12:22).
I am bold. Thank God I am bold. I believe it was my purpose to be bold and my mother, in her maternal wisdom knew that would be my calling. She made sure to plant the seed inside my heart so that I would remember her words the moment I felt insecurity come over me. We all know who plants the seeds of fear and insecurity in our hearts and souls, and it is not Godly but ungodly.
The darkness revels at Christians afraid to shine their light. In fact, a fearful Christian is the devil’s playground.
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HT: Helleniscope. (Minor organizational edits and bolding of key phrases done by blog editors done to enhance readability.)
There is a paper having to do with this concept of lukewarmness in a journal whose name I can’t recall – New Testament Studies, something like that – in 1959 or so. Two British writers suggested that lukewarmness was not about enthusiasm but effectiveness as Christians. They visited the Laodicea area and found that many things back in the first century were still there, such as sheep with dark wool, hot springs that had therapeutic value, special natural stuff of some kind that could be used to heal eye problems and so on.
Their idea was that the Laodiceans were so proud of their area, the relative prosperity from being at the crossroads of two highways, that they viewed themselves as Laodiceans first, rather than as Christians. The available water was a particular matter. The natural hot water was good for health. If you drank lukewarm it to get rid of some bad thing, you vomited. The scarce cold water was effective for relief from thirst. If you want more, email me back.