Last week I shared a quote by the writer Brennan Manning who said, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable!”
This is saying that the greatest cause of people NOT believing in Jesus is people who say they do but don’t live it out or put another way people that are fans of Jesus and not followers.
During the week I came across this image. Is it hot, cold or both? Is this a picture of our relationship with Jesus?
I think there are times when we say if we can’t follow the teachings and person of Jesus in a genuine or authentic way, we’ll pretend to. We’ll hide our flaws, faults and our fears from other people and we’ll wear a spiritual disguise to be somebody better than we really are. Why? Disguises are safe. Disguises are easy. Because being real requires courage. Being real is a risk. It seems at times that we would rather go through life pretending and seeking the applause and approval of other people than being the very person who God created us to be. Jesus has a word for this type of life. He calls it Lukewarm living.
Being lukewarm as a follower of Jesus is NOT good. Luke warmness is found somewhere between being hot (having a passion for Jesus) and being cold (having no desire for Jesus). In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus is very hard on this type of lukewarm living and yet it is probably the place that most of us exist.
How is your relationship with Jesus going? Andrew
