I've been thinking a lot about lukewarm Christianity these days. I don't know why; perhaps it's because the more I study it, the more I see evidences of mediocrity in my own life. The more I learn about lukewarm Christians, the more frightened I get - both because of the lack of passion in my own life, and also because of the prolific numbers of lukewarm Christians that I see in the Church.
I grew up hearing about lukewarm Christians, being warned to avoid living a life of spiritual mediocrity. But I always heard it in the context of a lukewarm....Christian. It was still a saved person, just someone who was not doing as good a job for the Lord as they could be doing. But as I am studying God's word more and more, I am coming to a shocking revelation, one that I don't particularly like to admit.
A lukewarm Christian does not exist. In Revelation 3, He describes His reaction to lukewarm people - He will "spit them our of His mouth." Does that sound like how He would act toward a sanctified saint? Would God treat with disgust someone who has been washed and purified by the blood of Jesus Christ? Would God counsel the redeemed to buy white clothes to cover their shameful nakedness?
In Malachi, God compares us not giving Him our best to the Israelites offering decrepit animals to the governor of their land. "Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" asks the Lord. Of course not. He would be disgusted, offended, that they had disgraced his position by offering such a paltry gift. God is the same way. God either wants everything from us, or He wants nothing.
When we give Him part of our lives, but not all of it, it's like giving a blind and lame sheep to the king of the land. Or, here's an analogy that may hit closer to home: it's like giving the leftover table scraps of dinner to a Holy God. Would that please you if someone gave that to you? Do you think it will please God? Of course not. It is insulting and offensive, and shows a lack of respect for Him, not the presence of it. Think hard and evaluate your life honestly....are you serving leftovers to a holy God?
I grew up hearing about lukewarm Christians, being warned to avoid living a life of spiritual mediocrity. But I always heard it in the context of a lukewarm....Christian. It was still a saved person, just someone who was not doing as good a job for the Lord as they could be doing. But as I am studying God's word more and more, I am coming to a shocking revelation, one that I don't particularly like to admit.
A lukewarm Christian does not exist. In Revelation 3, He describes His reaction to lukewarm people - He will "spit them our of His mouth." Does that sound like how He would act toward a sanctified saint? Would God treat with disgust someone who has been washed and purified by the blood of Jesus Christ? Would God counsel the redeemed to buy white clothes to cover their shameful nakedness?
In Malachi, God compares us not giving Him our best to the Israelites offering decrepit animals to the governor of their land. "Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" asks the Lord. Of course not. He would be disgusted, offended, that they had disgraced his position by offering such a paltry gift. God is the same way. God either wants everything from us, or He wants nothing.
When we give Him part of our lives, but not all of it, it's like giving a blind and lame sheep to the king of the land. Or, here's an analogy that may hit closer to home: it's like giving the leftover table scraps of dinner to a Holy God. Would that please you if someone gave that to you? Do you think it will please God? Of course not. It is insulting and offensive, and shows a lack of respect for Him, not the presence of it. Think hard and evaluate your life honestly....are you serving leftovers to a holy God?
Malachi 1:6-11
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty.
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.
9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the LORD Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.
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