“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.” (Revelation 3:15)

Suppose you show up on a hot summer day to a picnic about two hours late. All the food has been sitting on the tables. The lettuce is soft and wilted; grease has hardened around the grilled burgers but the flies don’t mind; the potato salad has turned all watery and the mayo is curdled; the corn on the cob is shriveled and cold. Nothing that is supposed to be hot is hot anymore; nothing that is supposed to be cold is cold anymore. It’s all lukewarm. Nauseating! Worthy to be spit out.

That’s how Jesus felt about one of the churches as he looked down after his return to heaven. He was talking about the Laodicean Church at the time but lukewarm churches have existed down through the centuries and there are plenty of them around today. These are churches that still give lip service to God but they feel entirely self-sufficient to carry on God’s plan – without God. They don’t really need him thank you very much.

Lest we stick down our noses at such horrible congregations we need to remember that lukewarm churches are made up of lukewarm people. It all starts with us. If I am lukewarm I contribute to making a lukewarm church. It’s amazing to realize that the Lord would actually rather we be cold – which means hostile to his kingdom – than lukewarm.

Maybe it is time we each take our own temperature. If we have cooled down in our ardor for God and his kingdom, let’s ask to be put back on the heat. I don’t know about you but I don’t ever want to be spit out of his mouth!