The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Correction and discipline aren’t fun but they are a necessity for becoming more like Jesus.  Feeling the stab of conviction while reading a passage of Scripture and recognizing how far I fall short of it may be painful for a moment, but it’s a beautiful sign of God’s love for us as His children. With that in mind, it’s understandable that pastors preach on Revelation 3:15-16.

   “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

The words for cold, hot and lukewarm are actually psychros, zestos and chliaros. Psychros means to be “sluggish and inert.”  Zestos means to have “fervor of mind and spirit or to be boiling hot.” Chliaros is a “condition of the soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor (a state of inactivity; lethargy) and a fervor of love.” I don’t know about you but I can map out my life by seasons of spiritual inactive or sluggishness and seasons of “fervor” for the Lord. I don’t actually think that God was referring to the obvious ebb and flow of our lives as humans. Navigating those seasons and learning how to shorten or eliminate them is part of becoming mature and sanctified.  The church of Laodicea had a bigger problem than just spiritual “moodiness”.  The Lord describes their problem like this…

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

The riches and wealth that they had were tangible and, no doubt, had an effect on their feelings of self-sufficiency, but the real problem was one of the heart.  They had lost their need for God.  Somehow, they’d “arrived” in their own eyes.  A desperate need and dependence on God had given way to pride and contentment in their own efforts. I would assume that, because their religious activities were grounded in their own self-sufficiency instead of a desperate need for God, it was easy to be “on” one day and “off” the next.  A really great speaker might spur them to passionate action for a week but the comforts of life might lull them to sleep the next month.  Devotion that is tied to emotions and feelings is a fickle thing. Devotion that is tied to societal actions or expectations is a deceptive thing. Sound familiar to anyone besides me?

I’ve seen those attitudes in my life and I’ve seen them in the Church. Humans have an incredible ability to go about life doing what they want and making it look “holy” simply by calling ourselves Christians, affiliating with a certain political party or filling our schedules with the “do’s and don’ts” of religion.  It’s astounding how quickly we can become self-sufficient and it’s terrifying how blind we can be to it.

Although I can search my heart and find conviction in all these thoughts, Revelation 3:19-20 spoke to me deeply.

 “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. ‘Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.’”

The answer to all of this is spelled out simply but is often overlooked or explained away. The answer is communion with God.  It’s our choice.  He knocks and he calls out to us but only we can invite Him into the inner parts of our heart.  Only we can give him permission to speak into our lives. To convict us. To change us.  He allows us the option of refusing this incredible gift that is offered. It blows my mind that we would refuse the God of the Universe when He wants to be our friend. He’s offering to share every moment of our day, to hear our most intimate thoughts and to speak life into us.

The Holy Spirit convicted me that this precious communion has not been high on my priority list.

For the past 6 months I have been focusing my attention on learning what time with God really looks like.  What prayer can be.  Why the disciplines of silence, solitude and fasting aren’t talked about much in the Church. What the Bible says about meditation and why Christians get so weirded out by that word. Even with all the thought and study I’ve put into these topics over the last year… I’ve still neglected to really DO IT.

Why?  Isn’t that odd?

To be honest, based on this passage, it’s worth pondering whether a person is actually a believer if they aren’t communing with God. If a person isn’t sharing their heart with Him and spending time building that friendship, then what are we doing?  Building religious reputations?  Claiming a relationship that we don’t actually have?  I’m not saying I have the answers but I’m saying it’s a question worth wrestling with because the implications are huge! Being a friend means to know someone well.  To love and accept them into our lives.  The words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 come to mind in a sobering way.

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,    but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say  to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

This intimate friendship and communion with God is the life-line of the believer.  It is the source of our faith, trust, power, joy, peace and every other spiritual blessing available to us through the Holy Spirit. I’ve learned that, like it or not, meditation has been a Christian practice of faithful saints for centuries and the Bible says a lot about it.  (I won’t recite them here because my purpose isn’t to argue, but I will list a few of the scriptures later if you’d like to go on this treasure hunt for yourself.) I’ve learned that prayer takes time and we, as “busy” people, have a very difficult time letting go of things so that we can make the time for it.  I’ve also learned that spiritual stability and passion are sustained in the presence of God.

Communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is the answer to so many things.  At the risk of sounding simplistic, I would say it’s the answer to all things.

The fact that Christ’s sacrifice has offered us a way into the presence of the Father and access to the power, presence and wisdom of the Holy Spirit should never lose its power to send me into praise and gratitude.  When it does, I’m dangerously close to believing, like the Laodiceans, that “I don’t need anything.” When conviction ceases and I don’t recognize my poverty, blindness or shame I have begun to walk in self-righteousness and lost the power that comes with living by grace through faith alone.  That grace and faith breed humility, humility breeds dependency on God and God fills His children with hope, joy, peace, power and love.

Communion is living, face to face, with the God of the universe who calls us His friend and His child. It’s sitting and chatting with the incarnate Creator of all things and listening to what He has to say to me personally.  It’s life and light and hope.

It’s the beautiful gift of the gospel that we are called to open. This is the perfect time of year to see it for the treasure that it is.  Our Father is knocking at the door with gift in hand, waiting for us to welcome Him in.

Clear your calendar, set the table, light the candles, open the door and take the gift. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

(Verses on meditation and further resource: Psalms 19:14,  Psalms 1:1-2, Genesis 24:63, Psalms 27:4,  Psalms 63:6, Psalms 119:15, Romans 8:5, Colossians 3:2. Celebration of Disciplines by Richard J. Foster)