Check Your Temperature

"Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain." - A.W. Tozer
“ ...What a a beautiful gift it is to have the one you love look you in the eye and say, ‘I love you. Not your beauty, your money, your family, or your car. Just you.’ Can you say that to God?” -Francis Chan
“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.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” -Revelation 3:15-17
There is a deadly disease infecting our churches. I see it all the time. There isn’t one person who is immune, but there are a few who survive this cancer and live to tell about it.
I’m talking about complacency.
So many of us “Christians” have become lukewarm. We lack the true desire, love and devotion our Savior demands. We want a nice comfortable balanced life. We go to church, we do good things and give to charity now and again, but these things are not what being a true Christian is all about.
Francis Chan writes in his book Crazy Love:
“Lukewarm people say they love Jesus, and He is, indeed, a part of their lives. But only a part. They give Him a section of their time, their money, and their thoughts, but he isn’t allowed to control their lives.”
Christ doesn’t want lukewarm followers, He wants people who are fully devoted to doing his will. To be a Christian is to follow Christ. Following Christ involves taking up your cross daily, denying yourself, and loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Are you doing these things? Can you honestly say Jesus is all you need? Would you forsake everything and follow Him? Do you love Him with every fiber of your being? Sadly, most people do not. Even in the church, it is hard to find truly devoted Christ followers. Most people just don’t think God is worth it, though they never say it. Most people never truly know God, nor do they want to.
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Following Jesus with all your heart makes you a Christian.
God doesn’t want fake love. Fake love is love that involves little or no sacrifice and commitment. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” If you are not obeying His commands, you do not love Him. It may sound harsh and judgmental, but that is what the Word says. We often get confused about what is necessary to get to Heaven. Do we need to do good works? Do we only need to say a prayer? Do we really need to give God our lives?
I’m not God and I’m in no place to judge others salvation, but what I think God really cares about is our hearts. He really does want you and me to give Him everything. If we have given Him everything, we will have no problem obeying His commands. In fact ,following his will becomes a joy. God wants you to step out of the crowd and be His. Only His. He doesn’t want you to be a lukewarm person, who is partly in God and partly in the world. He wants you to be hot, to be on fire! You must burn for Christ!
God is the Greatest good. Actually, he is the only good. The love he has for you reaches further than the universe. He doesn’t need to love you, but he does. He is perfect and chooses to love us imperfect, foolish beings. What he wants back is our love. He wants us to live a life where our love for him is shown to all the world, and His love for us. I know it’s not easy, but a time is coming when we won’t even have to try to love Him. We will see Him face to face. We will be made perfect, and be in perfect unity with our creator.