Lukewarm Christians
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One day, a man was sitting on a fence. One side was heaven; on the other was hell. As the man was sitting there, Jesus walked up to him and asked, “Would you like to come over here?” The man answered Him and said, “No, thank you, I like it here.” Jesus said okay and departed. Another day Jesus returned and asked, “Would you like to take a walk with me?” The man, again, refused, and again, Jesus accepted his answer and departed. A third time, Jesus approached the man and asked him, “ Would you like to join me?” And for a third time, the man said, “ I’m comfortable here, thank you.” And so, Jesus walks away the third time. For a while, the man didn’t hear from Jesus. Then one day, Satan approaches and asks, “ How would you like to come over here with me?” The man, same as with Jesus, says, “ No, I like sitting here. I’m comfortable.” Satan answered, “ Man, I own the fence too.”
We cannot be “on the fence” or “lukewarm” followers of Christ. Jesus says that not everyone who calls Him Lord will be permitted into heaven. But he who does the will of God (Matthew 7:21), be born again in spirit and water (John 3:5), and if you believe in Him and confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved ( Romans 10:9–10).
Is sinning without care doing the will of God? Is watching porn and not repenting of it doing the will of God? Is boasting to your friends about what you did last night? I can truthfully answer those questions and say, no. If you choose to fornicate, lust, idolize, be greedy, gossip, take the Lord’s name in vain, be adulterous, steal, or even play video games over reading the word of God, you are not doing His will. That is not to say you can’t play video games at all. I am saying that playing video games, reading romance novels, scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, watching the news, youtube, etc., more than reading or spreading the word of God is.
Likewise, we need food to survive. It is a crucial part of human life. Food can also be an idol for us and turn into gluttony. Reproduction is a natural human function that God gave us. God told us to “Be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1:28) on the contrary, it can also turn into adultery, lust, and fornication. Anything you put before God is idolatry, for God is a jealous God, for all is his.
Doing the will of God starts with following the ten commandments. (Exodus 20: 2–17) Paul says, “The greatest of these is love.”( 1 Corinthians 13:13) The reason the greatest of these is love is that the ten commandments are love. God commands us to love Him and commands us to love our neighbor, which is every other human being on the planet. Husbands and wives are an exception since they are one flesh (Matthew 19:5) and, “ Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”(We can get deeper on that later on) (Mark 10:9) If you love someone, you will not want what they have nor be jealous of it. You will not want to kill them. When you love someone enough, you put nothing above them, and God commands us to be that way to Him because He loves us that much. If you look at the commandments, they are all tied to love for God and humans in some way. Though the demands are to love people and God the same, they are not easy and God understands. (More on God understanding your pain and difficulties in later posts as well)
To be a lukewarm Christian is to follow your path and say you’re following God’s (Ecclesiastes 1:2) but, that’s just an illusion because if it’s not of God, it’s of the enemy. (James 4:4) When you walk with Christ, you’re supposed to walk with him. You do as he asks, and in return, he protects you from the grips of the evil one. He wants your love because He loves you. He loves us so much that he chose to lay his life down for us (John 3:16) and conquered the grave so He could show us how much he truly loves us because saving the human race once before wasn’t enough for us worms (Isaiah 41:14)(referencing the great flood in Genesis 7). In Isaiah 1:11–17, God says He is done with animal sacrifices. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. (Luke 15:11–32)
Furthermore, Free will, though not mentioned in the bible, is shown through God permitting us to make our own decisions. Some good examples are Adam and Eve, the story of Sampson, Moses, Noah, and even those who choose to remain a “lukewarm Christian” and ask for prayer instead of fixing their known flaws. Not to say we shouldn’t be praying for that person, but they show they recognize their flaws, are too caught up in their wants to fix them themselves, and essentially take the lazy way out. God does not give the easy way out.
As Christ’s disciples, we cannot nonchalantly walk through life. Because of our sinful nature (Psalms 58:3, Romans 5:12), we have to fight our sinful wants every day. Taking care not to set our treasures in this world, but the next. (Matthew 6:19–21) When we become lukewarm in the faith, we know the basics of God’s love and Satan takes what we know and uses it to blind us from the important things. “God forgives, you can ask for forgiveness later. Go ahead and have fun.” They, the enemy, whisper in your ear. God knows your heart. He knows how sincere our apologies are. If you say you’re sorry but aren’t truly sorry, He isn’t going to forgive that. You need to truly understand your sin and the severity of it and repent. I have been in this situation, and it is a deceptive one. Seemingly everything is fine with no real hardships. The sense of security is false and comes from the lack of movement in faith. If you sew nothing, nothing you will reap. (Galatians 6:7)
You get used to nothing, but nothing is an illusion. While you sow nothing and reap the same, God still sustains you in life even though we give Him no credit for what we have, complain about what we don’t, and constantly want more. (Jhon 4:13, Ecclesiastes 5:10).
“I’m fine here, thanks” is an excuse people use to avoid getting closer to God because they’re fearful. We are afraid of the wrath of God and feel comfort in thinking God doesn’t truly know our sins. Sometimes, we’re just plain scared to repent. Sometimes we don’t want to repent because we are comfortable with our sins. We should always repent and seek our faults so that we may correct them and be better humans and followers of Christ.
In conclusion, being a lukewarm Christian is not doing the will of God. Why would you not want to do the will of the only perfect and divine being? The one who loved you so much he sacrificed his only begotten son for you. So, start acting like a person separated from the rest of the world. (John 15:18–25) .
Thank you for reading and I hope to see you next time. God bless everyone. Amen.
