Don’t Get Spat 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 3:15-16) The speaker of those words? Jesus. The audience? A church. The Bible says: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Take your spiritual temperature. Ask yourself these simple questions: 1. Where is your heart? Jesus said: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:8) If your heart is far from God, ask Him for a transplant. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26) 2. Where is your mind? Do you focus more on this world or on God? “Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:18-19) “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) 3. Do you love God with “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”? Who is your first love – God, yourself or someone/something else? Do you passionately pursue a relationship with Him with every fiber of your being? 4. Do you “love your neighbor as yourself”? Do your actions show that you care for others? Or is it all about you? 5. Does your life overflow with the Fruit of the Spirit? Do people see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in your life? Or do they see something else? Here’s a quote that’s more than a century old but still rings true today: It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity. (Frederic Huntington) DON’T GET SPAT LET GOD LIGHT YOUR FIRE
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 15:59:49 +0000