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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Hot and Cold (04/09/09)
Lukewarm!

Dear Debbie,

How are you? You have been on my mind so much that I decided to write to you. I think your vacation time will soon be here and I have something I want to share with you. You can give it some thought while you are away. Actually this letter is more like a message than news!

As I said, I’ve been thinking of you a lot recently and wondering how you are and if you have kept your New Year’s resolution to go to church more often. I am not nagging, just concerned. We all need contact with other Christians. Remember the illustration of the red hot coal of fire that was left on its own. Soon it grew cold and was no more use. I am sure you know what I am saying.

I have recently been reading the first three chapters of Revelation where John is told to write to seven churches. Two of the letters have challenged me very much — the letter to the church at Ephesus and the one to the church at Laodicea.

The believers at Ephesus were doing a lot of right things, but they were reprimanded because they had lost their first love. They were told to remember where they had come from, to repent and return and do the things they did at first. I am wondering if this true of me. Am I in love with Jesus as I was at the beginning of my Christian life? I really am doing some heart searching.

The believers were told to do the things they did at first, which I am sure was to enthusiastically share their new found faith. How often do I do that now? Remember when we first became Christians how excited we were, sharing together, praying together and going out and witnessing to others of our new found faith. I am not saying we are doing anything wrong now, but we need to get back to that first love and demonstrate it in our lives.

Which leads me on to the letter to the church at Laodicea. The Lord rebuked it for being neither hot nor cold. Now if something is not hot or cold, what is it? It is lukewarm. Think of a cup of coffee that is neither hot nor cold. Ugh! I would not even want to put it to my lips.

I began to think of my life. Am I like a lukewarm cup of coffee. No taste; no use.

God wanted to vomit this church out of His mouth. Ugh again! They must have been sitting down just enjoying each other’s company with no thought for those outside. Their enthusiasm for the gospel had waned and they weren’t concerned. They were apparently well off and satisfied with their way of life. They did not need anything and it seems they did not do anything either. God said they were poor, blind and naked.

I wonder if they were really saved. It says they were neither hot nor cold. Maybe if they had been cold they could have been changed through the work of the Holy Spirit. But lukewarm — only fit to be discarded?

I am concerned about my way of life at this present time. Am I too complacent? Outside of the church do others know I am a Christian?

I am concerned about my church too. It’s not very active these days. I am afraid it is neither hot nor cold? Does it make God want to vomit?

But God did not give the Laodiceans up. He still loved them. He called them to repent and to be zealous again.

I have a lot of heart searching to do. I want to get back to that first love and to do the first things. I don’t want to be lukewarm.

What about you Debbie? Read about these churches for yourself. You were so enthusiastic about being a Christian at one time. Don’t grow cold. I have shared this with you because we began the Christian life at the same time. Let us both get back to our first love.

Perhaps this is a good place to end. Write me soon.

God bless you.
Love you,
Mary






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Member Comments
Member
Date
Edmond Ng
04/20/09
Interesting style of writing and way of getting the message through. We certainly need to get back to our first love on a regular basis so we'll never be in a state of lukewarm, where taste is lost and usefulness found lacking.
Yvonne Blake 
04/21/09
Very creative!
What a loving friend!