"Lukewarm"

Up and down and in and out,

And sometimes hot, then cold,

The lukewarm cannot get it right,

And quickly it gets old.

‘Cause you can never count upon,

The promise that they make,

And better if you wait and see,

Than any chance you take.

They are unreliable,

Double-minded and so slow,

When it’s time to get things done,

They don’t get up and go,

But rather find excuses,

And any one will do,

When you’re not whole-hearted,

And not all in, it’s true.

Within even the best of us,

There’s fickleness it seems,

And dying daily to ourselves,

Is the short-cut to God’s dreams,

And all the plans He has for us,

And His calling to do more,

But if we don’t surrender all,

Then what’s the Spirit for.

Lord, heal our lukewarmness,

And heal our double-mind,

Set on fire our yielded lives,

And all your power find.

“So because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth…” (Revelation 3:16, NIV)

The Holy Spirit spoke strongly to the church in Laodicea about being spiritually lukewarm. Isn’t it interesting that the Lord preferred them to be either cold or hot, rather than something in-between. The obvious truth is that when we’re hot spiritually God can use us. Being hot means God has set our lives on fire with the power of His Spirit. Being cold spiritually means we are in outright rebellion against the Lord, and though we need to repent, at least it’s very clear that we’re not doing what is right. The danger of lukewarmness is that it is a place of deception where we’re not all the way in but we aren’t all the way out. Because of this we do not see what God wants us to see and do. The good news is that the Spirit knocked on the door of the lukewarm and offered them His fellowship. He does the same for us.

Lord, help us open the door to You, in Jesus’ name. .

Art by Tim Cox, timcox.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Tim, and God bless you.