Here
I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation
3:20 NIV
This
statement by Jesus follows up what he has to say about the
lukewarmness of the church at Laodicea. They had become lukewarm in
their faith and relationship with the Lord. He had told them because
of their being lukewarm He was about to spit them out of His mouth.
In other words they had become distasteful to Him and were about to
lose there place.
We
all understand what lukewarm is, this is why Jesus used the term.
Think back to a time when you experienced something lukewarm. Maybe
you had been looking forward to a hot cup of coffee and when you took
that first sip and it was luke warm. Kind of ruined the coffee
experience didn't it? Or on a hot day, you went to a water fountain
for a cold drink of water and as you took that first sip you
discovered the water was room temperature. Not very refreshing, was
it? Lukewarmness is not a pleasant experience, it doesn't satisfy.
What Jesus was saying is that He was no longer satisfied with His
relationship with the church at Laodicea. They needed to change or
He would “spit them out”.
We
too can become lukewarm in our relationship with the Lord. When we
find ourselves there, we find it unsatisfying. But it is not the
Lord's fault that we feel unsatisfied. It is ours. We have come to a
point of contentment that is not healthy for that relationship. When
we start feeling lukewarm, we need to take a spiritual inventory. We
need to look back to where we came from, before Christ and realize we
are oh so subtly heading back there. If we head back there, then
Jesus will no longer be satisfied with us and we will be spit out.
Lukewarmness
will not be tolerated by our Lord. But we know this, Jesus said “Here
I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
Jesus
is always seeking to have the best possible relationship with us.
If
today, you find yourself drifting away in a sea of lukewarmness, know
that Jesus is knocking. Open the door to Him. Let Him come in and
fellowship with you again, as He once did.
©
2012 Leo J. Woodman
