What's your temperature?

Are you a "lukewarm" christian?   Do you know?   Is there such a thing?  Why is this important?   Check out the following verse from Revelation:

Revelation 3:14-18  "To the Angel of the church of Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.   So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mount.  Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, " and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see."

I don't know about you, but the thought of coming before Jesus and being considered "lukewarm" sounds like a pretty risky thing to do to me.   In fact, based on the verse about, I think we are gambling with our eternity if we do so.   Looking at the above scripture, Jesus will have the same reaction to those of us who are lukewarm as we do to lukewarm coffee or soup.   

How do you know if you are lukewarm?   While not a comprehensive list, I wonder if any of the following statements make you a little uncomfortable?

• Attend church regularly, but do so because it is what is expected.   You know, it's what "good Christians" do.
• Give money to charity and to the church - as long as it doesn't impact on their standard of living.   If you have a little extra & it is easy and safe to give, then you do.  Otherwise, you don't.
• Care more about what people think of their actions vs. what God thinks of their hearts and lives.   Want to fit in - regardless of if it is at church or outside of church.
• Want to be saved from the penalty of their sin, but don't really want to be saved from the sin itself.
• Are moved by stories about people who are doing "radical" things for Christ, but are not acting for Christ themselves.   Consider the things that Jesus expects of all His followers as "radical."
• Rarely, if ever, share their faith with anyone - even those they are most comfortable talking to.  Don't want to be rejected or make anyone uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion.
• Gauge their morality by comparing themselves to the secular world.   Feel satisfied that they aren't as  bad as the "guy down the street."
• Don't allow Jesus to control their lives.   You love Jesus and He is a part of your life, but only a part.   Jesus gets a part of your time, thoughts and money, but that is about it.
• You love God, but not with all your heart, soul and strength.
• Demonstrate love for others, but don't seek to love others as much as you love yourself.

If we are honest with ourselves, there are likely many of the bullets above that make you uncomfortable.    I think that many of us have at least one area from the above that makes us a little uncomfortable when it comes to questioning if we are lukewarm.

And there is where the nonsensical grace of all of this lies.   The bible demonstrates there is room for our failure and sin in our pursuit of God.  Lamentations 3:22-23 tell us that God's mercies are new each and every morning:

Lamentations 3:22-23 The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassion never fail.  They are new every morning.  Great is your faithfulness.

And that His grace is sufficient.

2 Corinthians 12:9  And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

However, that doesn't at all mean that we can just do as we please because God will always love us and forgive us.   We can't say that we love Christ while still chasing after the things of the world.   It just doesn't work that way.  

Luke 9:25 says "For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"

If we truly love Jesus, then we are a changed person.  We will want to keep His commandments.

John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

James 2:14-17  What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled" and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?  Even so faith, if it has no works is dead, being by itself

You see, anyone can say that they love Jesus and believe in God.   You see, even the demons believe in God.

James 2:19 You believe that God is one.  You do well, the demons also believe, and shudder.

You see.   If we love God and are Christians, we are going to strive to keep His commandments.  It's not that we will always be successful.   Despite our belief in Christ, we are still fallen creatures.  We just need to realize that we are going to fail from time to time, pick ourselves up, confess our sin to Jesus - not because we want delivered from the punishment of sin but because we love Jesus and want to live for and honor Him.  

I leave you with this.  The concept of being lukewarm allows for people to walk the fence between Christ and the world.  It is something that is in between.   Looking at the scriptures and what Jesus said, I don't see any room for being "lukewarm."   You are either in love for Jesus and "Hot" or you are not in love with Jesus and "Cold."  There really is no in between.

Have a little Emunah

What is Emunah (pronounced "em-oo-nah") you might ask?   Emunah is the Hebrew word for "Faith."   However, the way the Hebrew lanugage defines faith may be a bit different then we are used to thinking about it.  

For us, many times, faith is more about knowing something and is less about doing anything.   In Hebrew, it is the exact opposite, it is less about knowing and is more about doing.  

In our bibles, Emunah is generally translated as faith, but that really doesn't serve the translation very well.   In cases where Emunah is used, it is there to describe an "innate conviction, a perception of truth that transcends, rather than evades, reason."  It's something that having additional wisdom, knowledge and understanding can further enhace, but is not impacted if wisdom, knowledge and understanding doesn't support having faith or emunah.   In short, emunah is not reason based.   Emunah endures even when reason can't catch up.

From an everyday perspective, an individual may have faith becasue he/she is not interested or in not capable of reasoning for him/herself.   If this is the case, then that individual doesn't "own" their faith.  They are merely relying on others.   In these cases, faith is easily swayed and is inherently weak.  

In other cases, the individial may have a profound faith or emunah.  In those cases, he/she feels that truth to be a part of their very essence and being.   In those cases, they really don't need to have supporting knowledge or reasoning to support their faith.  It is something that they just know and they know it regardless of it being supporting by the mainstream academics or others.   They are so convinced their faith is true, they will die for it.  To deny their faith/emunah, is to deny their very essence.  

Knowing this, how strong is your faith?   Is it a superficial faith that is easily shaken at the latest news/discovery that goes against it?  

2 Corinthians 5:7   For we live by faith, not sight.

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

James 1:6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

The Mind of God....

Take a look at the following two images.


What thoughts do you have?   What do you suppose these images are?

If I told you that one image was a neural network, does that change how you view the other image?

If I told you that one image is of the known/local galaxy clusters; how do you view the other image then?

What about these images?   Some are neural networks, some are images from deep space.  Can you tell the difference?

As I was reading my devotions this morning, the image of the galaxies came up and it struck me at how similar it is to images of neural networks.  I was awestruck by the very reflection of God's creation in two very different images.  

Psalms 19:1-5 "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.   Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world.  In the He has placed a tent for the sun,  Which is as a bridegroom coming out fo his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.

I am also struck by how often we rush to God with requests and pleas for help with out ever stopping to consider the very glory and awe of who God is. 

Romans 1:20 tell us that God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in what He has made:

"For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so they are without excuse."

But we are all so busy with our own lives, pre-occupied with what the world wants us to pay attention to, and occasionally the needs of others, that we allow ourselves to be blinded to the wonder's of God's creation.  

What if we stopped, for just a moment, each day and noticed the beauty of the world around us?   Noticed:

* A simple flower;

* How good the breeze feels on a warm summer day;

* How cool the grass feels on your bare feet during the summer;

* The simple elegance of a snow flake as it falls to the ground;

* The sound of leaves rustling in the breeze;

* That sound of water in a mountain stream or ocean waves crashing into the shore.  

I wonder if we did these things if we would start to see more of God and maybe be more in awe of Him?   

Would we take more time to consider His glory? 

Would we take more time to consider things as we approached Him in prayer?  

Would we consider that God uses nature to witness to us about his grace and faithfulness?

Matthew 5:43-45 "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy.  But I say , love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.  For He gives his sunlight to both the veil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too."

Matthew 6:28-32  "And why worry about your clothes?  Look at the lilies and how they grow.  They don't work or make clothing , yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.  And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't He more surely care for you?  You have so little faith!"

Would we actually ponder that when we do these things, that we may just barely be grasping who God is and be in awe of Him and how much He loves us.

That maybe, just maybe, we are getting glimpses into the mind of God.