Cold

It has been so cold here the past week; at times, hard to breathe. The temperatures have been anywhere from -1 to -40 degrees (with the lower end of it being what it was the majority of the time). Whenever I would walk outside it was as if any moisture on my body would freeze up and I'd be chilled to the bone. Several minutes outside in these kinds of conditions without proper clothing or gloves could result in frostbite or even death.

These double digit negatives had me thinking though. What is the condition of my heart? You've heard it said that if you throw a frog into a cool pot of water and slowly raise the temperature, he will not jump out and will slowly be cooked to death as you raise the pot to a boil. The same is with the opposite end of the spectrum. If you throw it into a cool pot of water and put that pot into the freezer, the frog will fall asleep and slowly freeze to death, completely unaware of the situation. In Revelation chapter 3 verse 16, we are given a glimpse as to what God thinks of the condition of the heart "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Lukewarm is such a comfortable place to be. I don't have to worry about looking like a religious freak but at the same time I don't feel completely lonely. I'm just comfortable there. But this is a very dangerous place and not at all where God wants me to be. To Him, this is so detestable that He would "spew" me out of His mouth!

I remember back to when I was not a Christian. I was lonely, depressed and didn't see a purpose for my life. I wanted so badly to be like everyone around me, no matter how damaging the lifestyle was to me. Then when I became a Christian, everything about God was exciting. I was hot for God and didn't care who knew about it. I had a fresh outlook on life. I wasn't lonely anymore and I wanted others to feel how I did. Then one day the ugly "S" word got in the way. SIN. Pretty soon, I was not on fire for God anymore but was more comfortable in living like everyone else around me was. I didn't want anyone to see me carrying my Bible or hear me listening to Christian music. In fact, I stopped listening to music that glorified the Lord and engulfed myself in that which glorified only my desires. I still talked to God though. I still read His Word---occasionally. But it had become our "little secret". I became lukewarm and was totally comfortable being there. In a lukewarm place, cold is not that far away and not that hard to become. After a while of being lukewarm, I found it easier and easier to close my ears to what God would say to me and my eyes to the beauty that is found through Him. I began to feel lonely yet also complacent. I began to fall asleep, a sign that the cold was taking over. In that stage, I surely would have died had God not taken a hold of my heart again.

To move from cold to hot again, God breaks the heart. This is painful but necessary. This is a part of the refining that we go through to make us more like the man God wants us to be. Daniel 12:10 says "Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand." Think about your heart for a moment. Where are you at spiritually? Do you know and walk with God daily or do you reject Him completely? Or are you one who accepted Him to save you but only calls on Him when you are in trouble or on Sundays? Do you feel cold and lonely or are you excited about life and the things God has blessed you with?

Isaiah 6:5-7
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Jump out of the pot and into the fire. Let God ignite that flame in your heart once again and bring you to repentance. Let Him touch the coal to your lips so that your guilt is taken away. It isn't an easy place to be but it is rewarding and it is where we need to be. When you come back to God, He WILL break you but He will also hold you because He loves you. Let Him refine you and purify you!