by Allison Wilson Lee
I dropped a cube of ice from my grandparents’ freezer into the cup of water and handed it to my cousin. Juliet took a sip and then looked up at me with confusion.
“I can’t taste it,” the cute little four-year-old said. Taste what? I wondered. It was only water from the faucet in the kitchen sink. What was there to taste?
But as Juliet continued to stare at me, realization dawned. It wasn’t a flavor that was missing; it was the ice she couldn’t “taste.”
“Oh!” I answered her. “I can give you another ice cube. Will that help?”
Juliet nodded, and I plopped a piece of ice into her kid-sized cup. Now she could experience the cool temperature in her water, and she gulped it down.
I understood why she wanted cold water. On a late June afternoon in south Mississippi, tepid water just did not sound appealing.
I could relate to Juliet’s preferences. In steamy, sweltering weather, a glass of icy cold water refreshes me. On chilly days, a mug of hot herbal tea warms me through and through. Lukewarm drinks, though, just do not seem to satisfy. Sometimes those get poured down the drain.
Through that imagery of hot, cold, and lukewarm, God communicates to His people. In Scripture, the Lord rebukes the church in the wealthy city of Laodicea: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15, 16).
A lukewarm follower of Jesus might not commit felonies or cheat on their taxes or drive a car under the influence of alcohol. They may not steal from their workplace or even lie about their weight on their driver’s license. But the neither-hot-nor-cold Christian also does not seek to store up treasure in heaven instead of amassing riches on earth, or love sacrificially, or bless their enemies. The believer who settles for a version of tepid Christianity makes room for pet sins, comfortable with a bit of gossip or a little pornography or a hint of pride in their dealings with others.
As the Messiah, sent to give Himself for our salvation, Jesus surrendered His life and bore the penalty of sin in our place so we might possess abundant and eternal life. Mark 8:34 indicates that Jesus denied Himself — His own pleasure, His own comfort, His own rights as the Son of God — to obey the Father’s plan for our redemption. He suffered rejection, betrayal, and a grueling death. Jesus calls us to imitate Himself in laying down our lives, to take up our cross and die to self as we follow Him. Juliet did not want tepid water to drink. Likewise, God does not desire lukewarm faith from His children. As a good Father, He longs for us to experience more than a mediocre religious habit. Throughout all time, God has displayed great faithfulness to His people, and He commands us to live with faithfulness toward Him. In the power of God’s Spirit at work in us, we can echo Christ’s words as He cried out to the Father prior to His crucifixion: “Not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
