Elize About Faith

In Revelation 3:16–17, Jesus tells the church at Laodicea that they are lukewarm – neither cold nor hot. It’s a metaphor describing the condition of their spiritual walk, and it comes with consequences that are as clear as they are unsettling: God will spit them out of His mouth.

But what does it actually mean to be a lukewarm Christian, and why is it so serious that it warrants rejection by God?

It comes down to one thing: doing things man’s way instead of God’s way.

Lukewarmness is self-satisfied faith. Comfortable faith. Faith that has learned how to look Christian without depending on Christ.

That’s why verse 17 matters so much:

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

Only two years ago I pretty much lived with my head inside a box of Christian truth avoidance. Time and time again I was confronted by Jesus about the sin in my life, yet I tried to drown it in excuses, self-pity and dismissive behaviour. Until Jesus made it very clear to me the path I was going down. It was never a path I wanted to take but unintentionally, I allowed the enemy to take root. What pains me most is that I never truly understood what lukewarm faith meant until only a few months ago.

Even though Jesus revealed to John the lukewarm faith of the church of Laeodicea, this speaks volumes for the average Christian today.

Many Christians are comfortable believing in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit but worship, pray, and praise God on their own terms, not His. They pray when they feel up to it, they go to church as and when they have time, they read the Bible when they have a spare few minutes or do not do any of these things at all. Because they stopped making room in their lives for Jesus. They would rather fill their time with earthly things.

We forget that faith isn’t something we customise. It’s something we have to surrender to. It’s not religion but a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

A lukewarm Christian may still go to church, know their Bible and speak eloquently in prayer, but without true faith and relationship with God, these things are empty.

God does not reject lukewarm people because He hates them. He rejects lukewarm religion because it lies – it lies to God and lukewarm Christians lie to themselves in the process too.

Lukewarm faith is dangerous because it numbs conviction, resists repentance and it replaces trust with pride and self-idolatry. To be lukewarm is to profess faith without surrender, practice religion without reliance on God and live comfortably without obedience to Him. And it’s serious because Christianity without Christ at the center of it isn’t Christianity at all.

Lukewarm faith says, “I believe in God, but I’ll decide how far that goes.”

True faith says, “I believe in God, and I will lay everything down to pick up my cross and follow Jesus.”

So, are you a lukewarm Christian? Or are you a fully surrendered to Christ?

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 16:24-28 NIV