Spiritual Lukewarm-ness

A friend of mine recently responded to a sermon that I had preached @ 24-Seven Ministry Center on Laodicea in her blog.  As I reflected on spiritual lukewarm-ness a couple of things hit me:

1) We are spiritually flame retardant.  What I mean by this is that we, in and of ourselves, are unable to be on fire.  It is only by abiding in His presence (John 15:4,5) that we can have the appearance of being on fire.  The reality is, however, that it is really the fire of God that we are abiding in (much like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego [Dan 3:19-26]) that makes us look like we are on fire.  Take us out and we will just be smoking.

2) We are too preoccupied for God.  Much of what you described about your present situation in life is what many are facing in this day and age.  We are not consumed with Jesus, rather the demands of this world.  The beauty is that God is working on you where you are. 

I just heard Brennan Manning speak a couple of weeks ago and he kept reminding us that, “God loves you as you are, not as you should be.” All of that is great, but we still need to be connected with our Abba, Father.  So what do we do in our preoccupied state? 

Jesus, through the Psalmist, provides for us a prescription that you can pick up in the comforts of your own home, at a coffee shop, in a book store, in a church sanctuary, in nature, wherever you are… it’s simply “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  In our hectic pace, Jesus simply gives us an invitation to sit and be still and know that He is God… that He is Lord… that He is our Savior and our Best Friend!  Maybe this occurs moments before you hit the on button on the remote when you pause just to be still.  Or maybe it is when you wake up in the morning or before you go to bed.  Or maybe this starts occurring throughout the course of the day.

Another thing that I picked up from author Brennan Manning was an exercise that I practice throughout the day.  He had us meditate on the phrase “Abba” while breathing in and then saying in our minds or verbally, “I am yours” as we exhale.  While I am walking my dog I am saying this.  Sometimes when sitting in my office, I stop just to say, “Abba, I am yours.” What a beautiful reality!

Posted by matthew gamble on February 26, 2007 at 08:02 PM
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