Cold weather is coming! Are you like me? I long for cold weather until it comes. Then, I mostly complain. But the warm weather annoys me as well. If only the weather could be perfect! By the way, how is your spiritual temperature these days? Chuck Swindoll told of a sign over a fireplace, “If your heart is cold, my fire cannot warm it.”
The lukewarm believers in Laodicea struggled with spiritual temperature. In the tri-city area, Hierapolis had hot water springs. Colosse had a cold stream. By the time these water sources reached Laodicea, they were lukewarm. So were the hearts of the believers in Laodicea.
These Christians struggled with self-perception. They thought of themselves as wealthy and self-sufficient. Jesus saw them differently: “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” I wonder how Jesus sees us in our self-perceived Revelationciency. “Not like that,” we might protest. Are we sure about that?
The whole book of revelation is written to these seven churches (1:11) representing God’s people in the first century right up to the present. Churches today may resemble different ones of the seven in Revelation at different points in their stories. If we are at ease and comfortable with our independence, we may be most like Laodicea. Or maybe we are like the believers in Ephesus who have left the One they loved at first? Or like Philadelphia, has Jesus put before us an open door that no one can shut? Every time we worship, Jesus himself walks among us and he sees us with eyes like fire. Would you pray with me that God might set our hearts on fire with his love as we move closer to the new year? Could this be the year of significant revival, or will we depend on ourselves?
