I was talking to Chad about this passage, and he enlightened me with some pretty cool historical facts concerning the city of Laodicia. Apparently, there were two streams, one hot and one cold, that flowed down from a nearby mountain. The hot stream and the cold stream eventually merged- forming a lukewarm pool of water. Each of the streams with the more extreme temperatures were very useful to the Laodicians. Hot water could be used for bathing and washing, cold water could be used for drinking, etc. However, the lukewarm water couldn't be used for much. Essentially, the lukewarm water was useless.
I believe that passage is saying that unless we are "extreme," for Jesus, we are practically useless. I believe the Bible calls us to be extreme or "on-fire" for Jesus- totally sold out to his cause. We are "on- fire" for Jesus when he has our whole heart, and is in everything we say and do.
Let me explain a little more in depth. First of all, I was thinking that many people may have an inaccurate view of what it means to be "on-fire" for God. Think about- if we use the symbolism of fire, just ask yourself- what are some of the characteristics of fire? Fire spreads, it gives off heat and light, and it's presence is unmistakable. In addition, it has "consuming" properties.
Whereas, I believe that the evidence of the fruits of the spirit are unmistakable in a believer's life, it doesn't necessarily mean that you must be religiously flamboyant and constantly and dramatically verbalizing your beliefs and quoting scripture to everyone within a thousand yard radius. To many non-believers those types of behaviors are turn-offs. There may be a time and a place for that type of enthusiasm, but many expressions of our faith through love (Thanks Joe for the round 2 message last night!) can be done quietly.
I like to think of an on-fire believer as being "consumed." What does it look like for someone to be consumed with Jesus? Well, that's easy- Jesus has control over EVERY aspect of their life. It would be ridiculous to think that a flame could be held to a newspaper and everything but the entertainment section, for example, would catch fire. As obedient followers, growing in our faith, we should eventually submit all areas of our lives over to Jesus and be consumed by His Lordship.
Are you consumed with the things of God? If not what's holding you back? Is there any part of your life that you haven't given to Jesus? Don't allow anything to cause you to get spit out of God's mouth, no matter how small you may think it is! Repent for any areas of complacency in your life and pray that God will give you an "on-fire" attitude!!!
Check this out! I ran across it while trying to find a graphic for this post! It's kind of funny and sobering at the same time. The site is called godsbarf.com.
2 comments:
Very well said Jennifer. If everyone could read this blog post I think it would do a lot of good for tons of people. I especially like the part where you talk about being a flame held to a newspaper, that every part of it should burn and not just the parts that we want it to. That's what everyone needs to realize. Like you said, it has to be a flame for God that consumes every area of our lives and not just the ones in which we want to choose. Again, very good blog post!
Yep. Thank you for a great post. (I asked about this passage in a comment left on Jeremy Kane's treehouse blog.) And I think that we, as Christians, all know the answer, although it is not necessarily an easy answer. To keep from becoming "Godbarf" we have to submit in EVERY area of our life...EVERY area.
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