Sunday, February 24, 2013

Tepid

"So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16

About a year ago I read a book called “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. Anyone who has read that book, will tell you that when they reached chapter 4 it hit them like a ton of bricks. And if you ask them what the book was about they will say only one small portion of the book was the entire theme, because chapter four is titled “Profile of the lukewarm” and it is like holding a mirror up to yourself.

According to Chan a lukewarm Christian has the following traits

1. Lukewarm People attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe “good Christians” do, so they go.

“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. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” – Isa. 29:13

2. Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church… as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living. If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to give, they do so. After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right?

“King David replied to Araunah, ‘No! I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.’” – 1 Chronicles 21:24

Chan continues with his list each getting more convicting than the previous one. #12 is the last one and says,

12. Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens – they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them – they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live – they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis – their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.”

Like my friend and fellow blogger Janet said, “it is like the 10 commandments, they are impossible to keep all of them and thus we need Jesus to stay on the right path.”

Lord please I beg you to help me with being an “On Fire Christian” and not lukewarm. Help me live by faith and let go of my trust issues. Lord I pray that my actions show that I trust you and not just my words. Thank you for teachers like Francis Chan who helps us understand your word, In Jesus name, Amen.

I would encourage you to buy his book, it is amazing (click here)
Below is a video of him talking about a life that is lead lukewarm. 


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