Send The Fire
14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot, I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Revelation 3:14-18)
Greetings family. It has been at least two weeks from my last post. I took some time this morning to hit pause on my crazy schedule and dive into the Word. This Sunday, our Men’s Bible Study is meeting, and we will be discussing Lesson Six in the Life Lessons From Revelation by Max Lucado. Lesson Six, titled “Vibrant Faith”, looks at Jesus’ final words to the last of the seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Beginning with the verses above, Jesus lays out his discord for the church in Laodicea for their “lukewarm” faith. Max Lucado’s questions for this lesson definitely turned up the heat and I found them to be the most challenging to honestly answer thus far in this series. I am anxiously looking forward to the discussion our Bible Study group has in a few days.
What does Jesus mean when He tells the church in Laodicea that their faith is “lukewarm”? Well, Jesus is pointing out that the church is neither on fire for their pursuit of Him and the way they live, nor are they just frozen in their faith, which Jesus says He would prefer over their complacency at being neither. The city of Laodicea was a wealthy city with a thriving banking industry, textile production, and medical school. This prosperity, however, seems to have led to spiritual complacency and a reliance on worldly things rather than on God. I found it impossible not to think of America as the “lukewarm” church of Laodicea. America is one of the richest nations in the world, one that is increasingly trying to cling to the proclamation of being a “Christian” nation, yet, despite our abundant wealth, we consistently fail to follow the instructions of Jesus Christ. As I type this post, the National Guard, the District of Columbia police, and Federal Agents are scouring Washington DC to rid the city of the homeless “eyesore” that djt has shifted his focus to. AP News published several articles covering trump’s “Safe and Beautiful” task force clearing of homeless encampments this morning. I found this article particularly intriguing, as it shows that homelessness in Washington DC spiked to its highest levels during trump’s first term. To me, this is just another example of a crisis trump has created, and then he swoops in and pretends to be the hero. My prediction is that trump used this as a precursor to activate the National Guard around the Capitol so that when he meets with putin today and sells our country’s soul to that evil madman, every brainwashed Soldier that blindly swears allegiance to trump will be ready to take control of the government. I pray that I am being paranoid, but looking back, I was spot on with all the horrible things that would happen to this country prior to the election if trump won. I mean, honestly, these last seven months have been far worse than what I thought, and nothing in the world is getting better.
But I digress, let me steer this ship back to why America’s faith is “lukewarm”. If you are a Christian, when was the last time you served in your church? When is the last time you fed the hungry? When is the last time you clothed the poor? When is the last time you went out of your way to help the least of the community you live in? I know I am extremely guilty of this lately. The only “good” act I have been regularly focusing on is shifting our tithing toward organizations that are doing the good work in the world. Perhaps my only saving grace is that I serve at my church every Sunday, but more and more I am living the life of a fraud as I stand before three- and four-year-old children and tell them how to live a life for Christ, yet I fail to do that in my day-to-day actions. Sure, I fill my day listening to Christian music, try my best to pray with my family every night, but what am I doing every day to serve those around me as Jesus commanded? To say my faith is “lukewarm” would be a compliment. I have lately slipped back into the cold, and I try to blame it all on the world’s grip on me, that my career is consuming all of my time. But I give the world the control it has. I make the choice daily who I am following, and lately, I am unfortunately choosing to walk the way of the world, stumbling with each step, instead of living a life on fire for Jesus Christ. So, if I cannot turn my life around, how can I expect this nation to do so? We desperately need a spark of revival in America, to ignite a burning light that will steer this sinking ship away from the rocks and guide them into the calm seas of Jesus’ eternal peace and salvation. Who’s ready to strike a match and turn up the heat?
Jesus, Send The Fire.
Common Sense Reborn 