Hot or Cold - Not Lukewarm.

I love to take long, hot showers. There is nothing better in life than a hot shower. I may be giving away too much information here, but I'm a morning shower person. I love standing under the pounding spray of hot water each morning because it completely awakens me and gets me ready for the day ahead. Did I note that I said hot water? However, lukewarm was the shower experience I had this morning. It was not cold or hot, just lukewarm. Despite how I turned the knob all the way to hot, it was lukewarm. While many say that it's best to shower in lukewarm water, I'm not a very big fan of lukewarm. This is how Jesus feels about some of us, and it’s annoying to Him when we are lukewarm. Just as I don't care for lukewarm water, Jesus is not pleased with lukewarm Christians'.  Just look at what God tells the Laodicean church. In Revelation 3:15 -16 he says, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

In Revelation 3:16, this verse addresses three different spiritual temperatures: hot, cold, and lukewarm. Question, when you hear the words hot, cold, or lukewarm --- where does your mind directly take you? So that we are all on the same page as we think about these three words, may I suggest that we use them as a means of examining our relationship with God. When it comes to our relationship with God our temperature matters to Jesus, and believe it or not, we fall into one of three categories…hot, cold or lukewarm. However, we never need to fall into the lukewarm category. According to Adrian Rogers "Lukewarmness is that state of being a little too cold to be hot and a little too hot to be cold; no fire, zeal or enthusiasm for the things of God."  In Christ’s letter to Laodicea, the Laodiceans were described as neither hot nor cold. They were described as lukewarm. If we are honest with ourselves, we must ask ourselves the question, "Am I hot, cold, or lukewarm?" Any one of us can be hot, cold or lukewarm on any given day, but Jesus would rather that we be either hot or cold (when it comes to our relationship with Him), but never lukewarm. If I can be honest, I know at times in my relationship with God I have felt completely lukewarm. During those periods, I don't feel like spending time in His Word, in prayer, or in worship. But that's when I have to ask God to reset my love and zeal for Him. I have to hit the restart button spiritually in my life. You see, the devil wants us to be lukewarm, and not spend too much time thinking about our relationship with God. But we must not let ourself get there, or let ourself become spiritually lukewarm, spiritually useless, indifferent toward God.

CONCLUSION
All of us have areas in our lives where we are lukewarm. But spiritually speaking, we must not allow our relationship with God to become lukewarm. God is not happy with lukewarm relationships. In fact, Jesus says in His revelation to the Apostle John precisely what He will do with lukewarm Christians: “So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). If this describes you, you don’t have to live as a Lukewarm Christian, you can make peace with Jesus. In Revelation 3:20, God tells us how to open ourselves up to Him: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” None of us are perfect, in fact we are far from it, but we must desire to be hot for Christ, and not be content with being lukewarm.