There is a disturbing image in the book of Revelation that I think of quite often. It is a message to the church in Laodicea and Jesus says "You are neither hot nor cold, you are lukewarm and it makes me want to throw up!" (That is the Paul translation.) Do you ever shudder at the thought that it is possible that you can make God sick at His stomach? Pretty scary, huh? Well you can. You see, when we say Jesus is Lord, it involves a lot more than most of us realize. Total commitment is the only acceptable option when it comes to being a Christian. There are those of us who say Jesus is Lord, but we have so at ease at being a Christian that we have forgotten what it was like when we first fell in Love with Jesus. Remember when you were on Fire? What happened? Did you let other lukewarm Christians tell you to just settle down? Did you hear the lukewarmers say things like, "You can't push Jesus and your beliefs on others" so you quit witnessing, or "You shouldn't judge people", so you stopped holding people accountable for their actions, or "You can't protect your children from everything", so you just let them watch whatever,dress however, and listen to whatever because you want them to fit into the world? Have you listened when they have said "That's just not the way we do things in this church."? Have you let them down play the amazing power of God and the miracles and wonders that He does everyday? "Just calm down, people are going to think you are some kind of Jesus Freak". Why do we listen to that stuff?
Think about when you fell in love for the first time. Did that desire to please that boyfriend or girlfriend make you act a little crazy? Granted testosterone can make a man do some some strange things, but when we are in love we all do some crazy things. For instance, my wife and I went to see an M.C. Hammer concert on our first date. I could not stand MC. Hammer, but I was in love and it didn't matter. All I know was where she was, that is where I wanted to be. That is the same craziness we need to have for Jesus. We are so in love it doesn't matter what we like or dislike, what we want, where we go, all that matters is we want to follow Jesus no matter what.
Do you remember when you realized that you were a sinner and on the expressway to hell, but Jesus reach out from the cross and snatched you out of the abyss you were getting ready to plunge into, and you were so broken, so thankful, so grateful, that you wanted to tell the world about what Jesus had done for you? You wanted to read every word of the Bible so you could get to know this wonderful savior even better. Do you remember? Does it still burn in your soul to do what ever Jesus says because you are in Love? It should. Are you still acting crazy like when you first fell in Love? Go on that mission trip, witness to a friend or co-worker, let down all your barriers and allow yourself to worship God, read His word, talk to Him, share your testimony to someone who needs to hear it, open your eyes to God working around you and the wonders He does in your life and the world around you. Don't allow Mr. Luke Warm to bring you down. Let your life reignite their flame and crazy love.
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