“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

–Revelations 3:15-16

This is the first winter that I have spent outside of Minnesota or Nebraska in the last 15 years and it has proven itself to be an interesting endeavor. I have never seen weather jump around in temperature so much so frequently. We will go from having a week where we hardly get above freezing and then we will have a span of three days where it will hover right around 70 degrees. It then will drop back to the thirties for a few days and then head back to the fifties. Even some of the people who have lived here in Missouri have said that this is the most inconsistent winter that they have had in many years. I am so used to it being warm until winter, and then cold until it is supposed to warm up for spring and summer that my body doesn’t know what to do with all of this change in temperature. I sure wish it would just pick so I my body could stay adjusted.

In the passage for today it talks about being hot, cold, and lukewarm. Some take that literally and say John was talking about the “hot” baths and medicinal cleanings you would get that were healing and the “cold” as the refreshing drinks of water travelers would get when they rested. This makes sense because who wants to take baths in or drink semi-warm water. I can’t say I do. Instead add our faith to the conversation and what that faith produces. If we change the water analogy to faith, we get “hot” faith that is healing and encouraging when we need it. When times are down we can remember the grace and forgiveness that God has given to us freely, which builds us up to continue to do His works. If we have “cold” faith we get a refreshing reminder that we can’t do anything good without the work of the Holy Spirit encouraging us to do so. But if we have lukewarm faith it may come across as stagnant or unappealing, not showing people the true nature of our Heavenly Father. Thankfully our Heavenly Father is a forgiving God who has already taken our lukewarm times into account. He noticed that all people would fall into the trap of being lukewarm at some point or another and sent Christ to take care of that on the Cross. Christ has paid for our lukewarmness making us “hot and cold” people once again! I love being hot and cold!

Question for Reflection: Are you in a lukewarm slump? What has God already done for that?

“To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor.” -Ezra Taft Benson