Think of it... really spend time thinking of it... oh I am so good at off the cuff saying that the values of God are something I have and want..... and the truth is that they really are what I want... but when you spend time actually thinking about some of these things.. they do take pause for consideration of that which we really are saying....
When one thinks about the concept of being hot or cold but not lukewarm... that's an interesting concept..... ever think of boiling water.... or freezing cold water that has ice in it and then thought of lukewarm water....
Let's go there for a minute.... our sons play sports... after a game (especially with our oldest) if there is an injury... not something huge but something sore.... my husband will have my son put the body part into a freezing cold tub of water/ice ... he does this to get to the issue of swelling and it really does work...but it is 15 minutes in and 15 minutes out and then 15 minutes back in.....
So it's bad enough the thought of the first fifteen minutes... our oldest son could tell you.... but what can be even worse is that second round of fifteen minutes after the body part has been out of the freezing cold water and is being placed back in....
What happens the body part is numb... truly numb.... but the fifteen minutes out of the water brings the pain not so much of the injury but of the what I would call defrost.... liken to being out on a cold winter day... toes .. well you stop feeling them because they are so cold... but when you come in and they start to thaw and warm up... ouch the pain...
Well think of boiling water.... I love a bathtub and I love it really hot.. but there have been times when I have run the water and then waited to get in and I've run it so hot that I can't even put a foot in... I have to wait and add cooler water just to be able to bare it....
So think lukewarm water.... ah... not too hot... not too cold.... just right... right? Temperature wise it is comfortable.... an aaaahhhh kind of feeling... that step into right away and immerse oneself in kind of water... the kind of water you can stay in... and linger in and get right into and ...well, you get the picture.....
Comfort... comfortable... hhhmmm
Or another way to look at it is this.... there are days I really like something hot to drink.... and yet after making myself a cup of coffee one of my children need something... so the coffee sits... and sits... and sits... well, by the time I get back to my coffee it is cooled down... lukewarm... not as desirable... or the opposite could be true as well... I make myself a truly cold drink... ice... refreshing cold drink... but it sits awhile and the ice melts and dilutes the drink and it is no longer as refreshing or cold it is just blah......
An interesting study this evening led me to some background information about the church of Laodicea .... in the article I was reading it spoke about how the town of Laodicea was both near the city of Hierapolis and the city of Colosse... well, Hierapolis had a natural hot spring and the water was used for medicinal purposes and the city of Colosse had springs where cold, pure water was abundant.... and Laodicea had neither.... their efforts to pipe in that water were actually successful however by the time it arrived it was lukewarm....
The text from the website, make straight paths, goes on to state.... that "According to this interpretation, Christ said that the Christians of Laodicea were like their own water, neither hot, like the spring in Hierapolis, nor cold, like that in Colosse, but tepid, foul, and disgusting.
Hot and cold water are both extremely useful, the one for cleansing, and the other for refreshing. The Laodiceans were neither healers nor refreshers; on the contrary, they spread spiritual disease. What disease was this? From the passage, it is clear that they believed that they were spiritually rich, when in fact they had gone bankrupt. They thought they could see, but they were blind. They thought they were healthy but they were corrupt. They thought they were fully clothed but they were naked."
As I have spent time this evening thinking upon these things and reading in further study my heart is fixed upon the aspect of the lukewarm water... while in one context it is what is comfortable... in another context it is neither here nor there.... comfort... being at ease.... is like that watered down drink that is no longer refreshing because the ice has melted or far from that hot cup of drink that one could wrap their hands around and enjoy....
In this world of comfort and ease ... where entertainment and distraction can keep us occupied ... in this world of data at the tip of our fingers and the ease of which we can obtain it... we can step into thinking that we know it all... I loved the research this evening ... I loved the quote about the how the Laodiceans thought that they were rich and spiritually knowledgeable and yet they were bankrupt...
That tears at my heart..... I don't want that... I don't want to be deceived into thinking that I have something to offer when I really don't.... to think that I could see but actually I am blind.... to think that I was healthy but be utterly corrupt or to think that I was clothed and actually be naked....
I end with the words from Brian Doerksen song, Light the Fire Again,
Don't let our love grow cold
Cause i'm calling out
Light the fire again
Don't let our vision die
I'm calling out
Light the fire again
You know my heart, my deeds
I'm calling out
Light the fire again
I need Your discipline
I'm calling out
Light the fire again
I am here to buy gold
Refined in the fire
Naked and poor
Wretched and blind I come
Clothe me in white
So I won't be ashamed
Lord, light the fire again
Oh Lord ... light the fire again.... I come wretched and blind... naked and poor but I ask that You would clothe me and heal me so that I won't be ashamed when I stand before you.....
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