Thought For The Day

End of Year

Tomorrow (as I write this) will be the last day of 2019. My last official act will be as guest judge at my second favorite Church in a chili cooking contest (my Pastor was supposed to do it, but he opted out as usual). As author, editor, publisher of LLOVELETTERS I get to do some really wonderful stuff because I am his lackey. I am looking forward to taking the heat of rejecting as winner any chili that burns my lips, tongue, mouth, esophagus, and creates heartburn that lasts for hours. I know so many, many people that love HOT chili – the kind of chili that can’t be put in styrofoam bowls because it eats through them before you can finish it. The hottest chili may very well win, but it won’t be with my vote.

I do wish more people (whether they like chili of any temperature) wanted a “hot” Church. A Church where the members are hot for Christ, for Scripture, for Prayer, for Bible Study, for lloving one another, and for pressing forward into the community with the message of redemption by “grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.” 

I understand that some people are genuinely “cold” when it comes to the things of God, and most especially, His Church. Their focus is on themselves, their wants and desires, their possessions, their success in business or whatever they have pledged their life to, their goals, and passions of every kind and color. Nothing will change that except the intervention of God’s Spirit convicting them of the sin of unbelief, and a marvelous infusion of God’s grace.

Somewhere in between are those who are “warm.” (That’s the way I like my chili.) They are attenders (sometimes regularly) at the local Church. They can quote a few Scriptures (and several quotes they think are Scripture), have a favorite Hymn, speak highly of Christ and His mission. The have been redeemed, most often when they were children (a GREAT time to come to faith in Christ), but somehow never got started on the path to Spiritual Maturity, commitment to task, builders of the Kingdom, and sharers of the  Gospel message. They have not yet come to an understanding of Romans 8:29  For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. Their image is not progressing much toward reflecting HIS.

Scripture speaks to the issue – Hear the Word of the Lord: Revelation 3:16“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.”  NO Believer will miss Heaven, but multitudes miss life – abundant, rich, free, full, and obedient. Change that. Get hot in 2020.

 

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