Being a true Christian, a true follower of Jesus Christ, is not meant to be something easy, not by any stretch of the imagination.
We all have our “Comfort Zones” our little imaginary bit of space where we feel comfortable and at ease but, Is this where one should be when we are working for The Lord perfoming His will or should we be outside the box?
Jesus tells the wealthy tax collector to giveup all that he has and follow, again Jesus tells his apostles and followers that they must be willing to have mother and father, sister and brother, family and friends turn against them to become a true Christian Believer.
In LUKE: 9: 23-26 Jesus teaches: ” If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life will lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s and of the holy angels.”
If you preach for The Lord Our God, is your preaching, hot or cold, or is it tepid and luke-warm? A preacher who’s preaching is hot his teachings are received and well understood. A preacher who is cold teaches nothing. The preacher who is tepid or lukewarm in his teachings his words say nothing and tend to dance around the truth of God.
I attend two dynamically different churches on Sunday to share my voice and my god given ability.
One church is old fashioned and set in its ways so the music I sing is mostly old traditional classical music. In this church when the pastor gives his homily or sermon, I know what is about to be discussed and said so I know that I have a 20-25 minute period for a smoke break and I can still return and hear the remainder of a boring sermon.
The second church is a more progressive church with modern hymns that are lively and the pastor delivers a sermon who grabs your interest right away and holds it. There is no time or reason for a smoke break at this church.
When you sing a hymn for The Lord Our God, do you sing with feeling and passion for the story to be told in the song, or, do you coldly without feelings sing, or, do you just sort of mumble along hardly making a sound for fear of making a mistake thus being inaudible to the congregation and to God?
As singers we are to be serving God praying in song with our voices. Our voices are a gift so we should show to God our appreciation for this gift and sing out with feeling and passion.
When you are talking with others evangelizing, are you enthusiastic? Are your points on target, or way off base, or floundering somewhere between earth and heaven?
There are many of us that can quote verses from the Bible some might even be able to quote the author chapter and verse, but if you show no enthusiasm in sharing God with others, do you really think they will remember what you said? Do you really think they will look up the verse in their Bible at home?
In REVELATION: 3: 14-16 Jesus is instructing John the Apostle saying:
“And unto the Angel of the church of La od i ce ans write; These things sayeth the AMEN, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because though art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”
The teaching here that Jesus is trying to get across to John in his dealings with the people of Laodicea is that whatever they do in the name of God as evangelists they should do with passion, with feeling, and with conviction and strong faith.
That it is better to be cold towards others and say and do nothing, rather than to be wishy washy mumbling and ho hum about that which you are trying to convey with word or with song. Being in the middle of the road and making no committment one way or another is reason enough for Jesus to say “I know you not.”
In everything we do as Christians to spread God’s Holy Word, we must do it in a manner that displays enthusiasm for God. If we do nothing we are seen as being cold. If we are wishy washy we are perceived as being lukewarm and accomplishing nothing so Jesus will not recogize the effort or us.