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Luke-Warm (Revelation 3:16) Feel-Good (Isaiah 30:2) Christians Offend God
So Learn to Truly Love Him as He Desires!
“These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13) These words from God through the prophet Isaiah are a stinging rebuke to people who do not worship God in the only way He desires which is out of love for Him from the depths of our heart and soul. Unfortunately many Christians today have been led to believe that all they need to do is make a decision to become a Christian and perform some man-made rituals and prayers during a church service somewhere (Isaiah 1:13) and that is all they need to be saved. God makes it very clear that this is not enough through scriptures like: “You believe in God. Good! Even the demons believe--and shudder!” (James 2:19)
"So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth!" God shows His anger toward Christians that are only "lukewarm" in this scripture (Revelation 3:16) originally directed to the large affluent church located in Laodicea. To better understand God's reference to being "neither hot nor cold" it helps to know more about the time and the place because in the region where Laodicea was located there were hot springs (Hierapolis to the north) and cold waters (Colossae to the south) that people visited for their healing effects. Anyone who has ever dealt with severe joint inflammation should be able to relate because using heat or ice to treat such injuries is very helpful. On the other hand lukewarm water is useless for treating such injuries. So God is speaking here to these people in a way He knew would get through to them so they would understand that their "lukewarm" faith was useless to Him. Another scripture where God gives much the same warning is found in Matthew 5:13 when Jesus speaking about the duty of all believers to be salt and light proclaimed: "But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out!" So lukewarm Christians are really an abomination because God deserves to be loved passionately "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37) just as Jesus told us to do as the greatest thing we can ever do during our life.
Unfortunately there have always been far too many people more interested in pleasing themselves with God than in actually pleasing God Himself by coming to know and love Him in the way that He desires. This is shown in scriptures like Isaiah 30:10 where God lamented that such people were telling His prophets to stop telling them the truth and instead tell them lies to make them "feel good." Many churches today cater to such people and I have actually had some ministers tell me that their top priority is to make their congregants feel good about themselves. Apparently they have never had the experience that St. Peter had when he first met Jesus and realized He was God because Peter was so convicted of his own sins that he said: "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8). Peter's response is very similar to the response the prophet Isaiah had upon suddenly being in the presence of God Almighty on His throne in Heaven: "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King the LORD of Hosts." (Isaiah 6:5) These are what genuine encounters with God are like and far from feeling good both Peter and Isaiah felt very unworthy to even be in the presence of such a Holy God.
In his book The Cost of Discipleship the famous theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by Nazis in 1945, used the term "cheap grace" to describe people who want all the benefits of Christianity without any "cost" whatsoever to themselves. While this is certainly part of the problem with "lukewarm feel-good" Christians the real issue with them goes even deeper to the core of their beings that do not want to accept God as He Is and instead replace the One True God with their own version that they feel more comfortable with. This is actually the worst kind of idol worship there could ever be to create a false god based upon their own selfish image of who they want God to be instead of embracing God and loving all that He Truly Is as He reveals Himself to us through the very truth such people reject demanding instead "lies" to make them "feel good."
The solution for such people is still the same solution that God offers to all of us to save us from our fallen state of existence which is to learn to fully love Him as He desires. This is why Jesus so emphatically stated that this is the greatest commandment of all: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind!" (Matthew 22:37) Which means we are to love God totally with our whole being above and beyond everything else including even ourselves. The reason it is so important to do so is because this is how we come to know God and be known by Him as Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 8:3) "Whoever loves God is known by God." And the reason we must come to be known by God in this way is because of the warning that Jesus gave to people that think that anything other than being known intimately by God is what saves us: "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? And in Your name cast out demons? And in Your name done many wonderful works?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you: depart from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:22-23)
So let us all learn to love God as He desires from the depths of our heart and soul because He deserves no less from us since He has already proved His great love for us "in that while we were still sinners, Christ (His only begotten Son) died for us!" So that we can forever love Him and be loved by Him in His Kingdom for all eternity! Amen!
"Lord please help us to love You to the fullness of Your Divinity as You have revealed Yourself to us through Your Son Jesus Christ and Your Holy Spirit and all of Your Creation!"
*** For a more exhaustive explanation of why we should all Love God read St. Bernard of Clairvaux's classic book On Loving God available at our website HERE
For more about how to properly worship God read Maid of Heaven Foundation paper Learn to Worship God in Spirit & Truth as Jesus instructs us to do! HERE
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