Don’t Get Spat
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010I 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)
The Bible says: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith: test yourselves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Take your spiritual temperature. Ask yourself these simple questions:
- Where is your heart? “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’” (Isaiah 29:13)
- Where is your mind? Do you focus more on this world or on God? “Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:18-19) “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2)
- Do you love God with “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”? (Matthew 22:37) Who is your first love – God or yourself? Do you passionately pursue a relationship with Him with every fiber of your being?
- Do you “love your neighbor as yourself?” (Matthew 22:39) Do your actions show that you care for others? Or is it all about you?
- Does your life overflow with the fruit of the Spirit? Do people see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in your life? Or do they see something else?
Here’s a quote that’s more than a century old but still rings true today:
It is not scientific doubt,
not atheism,
not pantheism,
not agnosticism,
that in our day
and in this land
is likely to quench
the light of the gospel.
It is a proud,
sensuous,
selfish,
luxurious,
church-going,
hollow-hearted
prosperity.
–Frederic Huntington
DON’T GET SPAT
LET GOD LIGHT YOUR FIRE
