The Lukewarm Christian!

Everyone has been praying for revival in general and revival in Churches since the time the churches were locked down!   And I came across what Spurgeon had said about the marks of a complacent church.  Spurgeon described such a church as follows: 

· They have prayer-meetings, but there are only a few present, for they like quiet evenings home

· They are content to have all things done decently and in order, but vigor and zeal are considered vulgar

· They may have schools, Bible-classes, preaching rooms, and all sorts of agencies; but they might as well be without them, for no energy is displayed, and no good comes of them

· They have deacons and elders who are excellent pillars of the church if the chief quality of pillars be to stand still and exhibit no motion or emotion

· Everything is done in a half-hearted, listless, dead-and-alive way as if it did not matter much whether it was done or not

· Things are respectably done, the rich are not offended, the skeptical party is conciliated, and the good people are not quite alienated: things are made pleasant all around

When I read this, I remembered the message of Jesus' to the church in Laodicea (Rev. 3:14). Jesus said that He wished the Laodiceans were either cold or hot. We know that hot water heals, and cold water refreshes, but lukewarm water is useless for both.  There has not been a greater curse upon the earth than empty lukewarm religion!  In a believer, lukewarmness is a picture of indifference. Lukewarmness is a picture of uselessness.  Trying to play the middle is a picture of compromise. In trying to be both things, the church at Laodicea ended up being nothing.  What Jesus wanted to change in them and us is the deceptive playing of the middle, trying to please both the world and Jesus.  No one can serve two masters.  A church is a body of believers.  If any of the above signs are found in our life and the life of our church, then Jesus' warning is for us today.

My friend, Jesus' answer to the scribes in Mark 12:30 is His command for us.  Let us rise like Nehemiah with zeal for the Lord.  Jesus said, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, … . "

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