If you had your choice, would you prefer an ice-cold glass of milk or a lukewarm one? Ice-cold can of Coke or a lukewarm one? If you had your choice, would you prefer a pleasantly hot (not boiling or burning) bowl of soup or a lukewarm one? A pleasantly hot steak or a lukewarm one? Many of us (and likely most of us) are picky about the temperature of our food and drinks. (If the illustrations above don’t click with you, make up some that do.) The coffee has got to be just right. The iced tea has to be, well…iced. Lukewarm is just not going to cut it!
Should it surprise us, then, that lukewarm is not going to cut it with God either! You know this passage from Revelation 3, which Jesus addressed to Christians – “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (3:15-16). Sometimes, I think we believe that lukewarm Christianity is better than being cold. However, a lukewarm Christian is nauseating to Jesus. Brethren, it’s time for us to turn up the heat! Lukewarm won’t cut it!