Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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In the employment world we might call a lukewarm performance weak and unacceptable because we want someone to be energetic about their job. If you submit work to someone and they say it's so-so, what are they telling you? That it's on that borderline between being not quite bad enough to say it's bad and not quite good enough to call it good. A lot of people live in that type of existence- getting by without being too bad or too good. We actually silently applaud those who don't get into trouble and understand that not being high achievers is the standard. Being mediocre is the norm in our world. The bright and brilliant are among the few, the bad encompass too many, and the in-between, the mediocre are the just right. A Goldilocks and the Three Bears scenario. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right-- only in this case it is unacceptable. There is no 'just right'. It's an all or nothing situation and many people don't like that at all because they'd rather just get by. They'd rather just give enough to get by and no more. That isn't how Jesus works. You can't give just enough, you have to give all your heart to Him not just a piece of it. When we give our whole heart to Jesus our lives reflect that- they reflect Christ. Jesus would have us either hot or cold because being lukewarm has him spewing us out of His mouth. Have you ever taken a mouthful of what you thought would be a hot liquid only to find it cooled and because it's grown cool you just want to spit it out? What about taking a mouthful of something you hope to be cold and finding it lukewarm, you want to spew it out right? You can actually hear yourself go ewwwwwwwwwww, yes? I know I can. The grimace, the ewww, it's icky, and unless you're extremely thirsty you won't drink any more of that warm beverage you really can only enjoy when it's cold.
Jesus wants to spew all those who are merely lukewarm in their walk with Him - out of His mouth. The lukewarm will never be acceptable to our Savior. Is it any wonder there will be few that really know Him and are known by Him? We love being lukewarm for Christ- it allows us to live as we please without being too bad, without us rocking any boats, without us feeling as if we are making a spectacle of ourselves. We love fitting into that mold of a Christian without being a fanatic. Typically those who are alive for Christ, living for Christ are often branded fanatical, strange, different- and you know what? That distinction dates back to the days when Jesus walked the earth before His ascension. Obviously, fitting in with society and blending in with the majority is NOT something we are to strive for, yet isn't that just what we are told to do- over and over.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked
We boast though, don't we? We try to puff ourselves up even when we know inside that we are nothing. We don't like the idea of being nothing because we hear a constant barrage about how special and wonderful we are and how we have to think positive about ourselves. Our lives are geared towards trying to be the best we can be all on our own because no one else can help us. We have to believe we are very special in and of ourselves because people don't like to hear others go on about how awful they are and it's not good at all to agree with someone who says they are awful, we're supposed to turn around and tell them how wonderful they are- it's the good and proper thing to do, isn't it?
As a result of how society would have us feel good about ourselves, having a high self-esteem is being beaten into us and it's no wonder we believe we are rich, that we need nothing. Not necessarily rich in a monetary sense - we at least can believe we are rich in and of ourselves, right? The poorest person in the world can still believe they have need of no one, right? Sometimes we applaud the poorest person refusing to accept any charity because they have pride. Well, with Christ our pride means nothing.
Christ even says- 'knowest not'. Don't you know? Listen up. You think you are one thing but in truth you're not at all.
You are in truth miserable, you are in truth poor, you are in truth blind, you are in truth naked. This is our TRUE condition. This is the condition of mankind in relation to God. An NO amount of our self-posturing will make us any different. We have NOTHING we ARE NOTHING without our Savior yet the world wants us to believe we are EVERYTHING all by ourselves in need of NOTHING and NO ONE!
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
We are counseled to buy of Christ- gold tried in fire to be rich, to buy white raiment to be clothed and our nakedness doesn't show, and eye salve to see.
Only in Christ can we find true riches- faith in Him for all our needs.
Only Christ's white raiment, Christ's righteousness can cloth our nakedness. We can try as we might to cloth ourselves but nothing we put on will hide out true vile condition, nothing but the righteousness of Christ.
And to see, to truly see we need the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to the truth in Christ. Anointed by the Holy Spirit we are no longer blind.
We can't depend upon ourselves and if we try to do that in the least way- all we'll hear from Christ is that we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked to Him. Depending upon Christ for all things truly is a job for those living in the last times before His return- as it has been throughout all time. Satan would have us look to ourselves and away from Christ and as long as we are focused on ourselves he has us in his snare. As long as we believe we are to build ourselves up and feel good about ourselves, loving ourselves being extremely important- so important that we feel as if we don't want to live if we don't love who we are and that to hate ourselves is a reason to quickly seek counseling. As long as we are so caught up in the world's idea of how our lives should be then we are on very dangerous ground because all our hope, all our worth must be found in Christ and Christ alone. We are NOTHING without Christ! We forget that so easily. We want to be something good so Christ will like us- just as we assume others love and like us because we are good people.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20 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.
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
We can't think being chastised by God is something extraordinary- it's through His love for us we are tried, we are rebuked, chastened so that we may see the truth in Christ and in Christ alone!
We need to be zealous and repent! Be quick to repent, to recognize our sad state and cling to Christ for all our needs.
We have to STOP trying to find repentance in ourselves, from ourselves, stop trying to absolve ourselves and make ourselves feel good, to feel better. We need to thank God when our true horrifying selves are revealed to us- even if it's daily, hourly, minutely- because then we can KNOW that our Savior is all for us because we are nothing. Anything good in us is from CHRIST and we forget this all the time. Many even hearing me saying the things I am would think I'm crazy for believing this, why? Because the world has taught us otherwise. We are taught to focus on ourselves and our self worth and where we should find that worth- in beauty, in thinness, in being smart, in having a good job, a wonderful career, a great education, in obtaining a good match in a marriage, in having children and raising them well-- these are the things we are taught to believe give us self-worth. In truth we should be taught we are not to seek self worth but to see worth only through the righteousness of Christ, our Lord and Savior!
Christ stands before us knocking- if we hear Him- if we open the door- He will come into us and sup with us. He will be our all in all, our everything. If we overcome through Him we will sit on His throne. Jesus had to overcome as well and He did so by complete dependence upon His Father. We overcome by complete dependence upon Jesus. Let us listen.
May God Bless and keep us all in Him, only in Him in none other not even ourselves. May our dependence on life be in Him solely now and forever. May our riches be found in Him, may we be clothed with His righteousness, may our eyes be opened to see the truth in Him- only in Him, by His mercy and His grace now and forever.
Amen.
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