I Don’t Want to Be Lukewarm
It is freezing today!
I just can’t warm up. Huddled in blankets with a small cough and a small squeaky voice. It comes and goes as I try and have conversation with my family. It’s not sore anymore but progressively over a few hours it lost its volume.
As I was trying to warm my physical body I turned to the scriptures to warm my spiritual body. I don’t want to be lukewarm (and be spewed out of Gods mouth.)
‘I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Revelations 3:15-16 NRSV
I desire to be full on hot for God. Now I know being human and flawed that this is difficult to do but with the help of the Spirit, grace from our Savior and His total forgiveness when I confess when I have done wrong, then at least I’ll be on the right path.
I don’t want to get too hung up about not being worthy of God’s gift of eternal life, but the truth is I’m not. It’s only by Jesus’ saving power that I am saved.
… since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 3:23 NRSV
I want to concentrate on Jesus and who He is and what He has done for me rather than my faults, failings, and sin.
As I read in Isaiah:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
Isaiah 43:1b-3a NRSV
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
Oh, that definitely warms up my mind, my heart, my spirit.
Chosen by God.
He never leaves us, no matter how our day has gone, how long the walk is through the fire…. for He is the Lord Our God!
Now I’ll just ask the Lord to warm and mend my physical body. What a great day to be a daughter of the living God!
May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’
Love
Rosemary
Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Have you ever felt lukewarm for God? What did this look like in your life?
What did you do or could you do to pursue God with your whole heart?
2 Comments
Valerie Lack
Oh, yes! But I am an intense sort of person and a bit impulsive so, I have to pull back, reign myself in a bit, especially now when I am in my eighties. Lukewarm, sounds horrible, doesn’t it, lukewarm tea or coffee or food. I guess the answer is I have times of being lukewarm and times of being passionate.
Not sure. Because of you and Bruce I listen to the devotionals every day, have prayer time, say the Rosary, talk to GOD every night and during the day. Put on the armour of God. Say the Angel of GOD prayer each day and have memorised half a dozen psalms and attend mass regularly. But sometimes I have to really make myself, because I don’t feel like it, I get tired quickly and would rather not.
Esther Mazzucato
There once was a preacher whose pain
Was mentioned again and again;
A sniffle, sore knee,
Was her Calvary—
While Christ bore the Cross without gain.
Each sermon returned to her plight,
Her headache, her cough in the night;
While nails through His hands,
By Rome’s brutal commands,
Seemed somehow less worthy to cite.
So next time she speaks of her flu,
And all that her ailments put through,
Recall Christ crucified—
Scourged, pierced, and died—
There’s really no comparison, is there, between the two?