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A Springboard for Your Spiritual Life

A 10 Step Plan to Fall Back into Sin

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Giving in to sin may not be as easy as you might think. Therefore, to help you learn how to fall back into that bed of comfortability easily, I have prepared the following 10 step plan to fall back into sin. If you take these steps, I guarantee you that sinning will once again become the norm for you. 

 

 

1. Think you can run your life better than God.

Of course, I know you would never ever actually admit this verbally and out loud. However, if you really want to fall back into sin, this is the mindset you need to have. It will govern the other 9 steps you must take to fall back into sin. The greatest thing is, you don’t actually have to say it out loud. In fact, you can do this while you are still attending church and even looking good in Bible class by answering all the right questions with all the right answers. All you have to do is decide not to do what God says in His word. You can do it for any number of reasons. Maybe what God asks of you is too hard. Maybe you can’t see how it will make you happy. Maybe you are just convinced it is too old-fashioned. No matter the reason, if you just convince yourself what you want to do will produce better long term results for you than what God asks you to do, you are well on your way to falling back into sin.

2. Live in denial.

Who wants to honestly face their defects and flaws? We all know it was wrong of you to yell at your spouse last night, but why be honest about that? Just come up with some reason why in that scenario it wasn’t really all that wrong. It was probably your spouse’s fault anyway. Here is the great thing, you can do this and still keep up the saying of your prayers. Just don’t ever get specific in your confessions. Just ask God to “forgive me my many sins.” No one can prove you have to be specific. Besides being specific would mean you would actually have to look those sins in the face, own them and repudiate them. That is way too much work (remember step #1?). Another way to do this is to constantly look for everyone else’s sins and flaws. Trust me, you’ll find plenty and you can salve your conscience by realizing that at least you aren’t as bad as they are. 

3. Quit assembling with the saints.

Surely religion is just about your personal relationship with God. Who needs a congregational family? Who needs a time to get together with other people to edify and be edified? Who needs to spend time with other people praising and worshiping God? Not you. You already know you can run your life better and you’re a good person and don’t need that repeated reminder. Besides, you’re smarter than most of those people and don’t get that much out of the preaching and classes anyway.

4. Isolate yourself from your godly friends.

Those people only want to judge you anyway. Why would you want to spend any time with them? They have just as many problems as you. They’re no better than you are. If you spend too much time with them, they might get you to thinking about some of those sins you have committed. They might call you on the carpet. Not to mention, it is just uncomfortable being around people who actually want to overcome their sins. They’re always talking about God and their Bible reading. If you hang out with them too much, they may figure out what is going on inside you and you just can’t trust those Christians to still love you when they find out what is going on inside.

5. Refuse to be accountable to anyone.

Only cults expect you to be accountable to someone, letting them know what you are dealing with and accepting their advice for how to overcome. You need to avoid partnering with someone for purposes of accountability at all costs. Granted, it may lead you back to sin, but at least it won’t let anyone else have undue influence in your life. That just gives too much power to another person in your life. Besides, no one has the right to know what struggles you face; that’s just between you and God. You’d think if He wanted you to talk to someone else about those things, He would have told you to confess your sins to other people somewhere in the Bible.

6. Keep all your stuff on the inside.

Nobody else wants to be burdened with your emotional and spiritual stuff. Besides, if you told them, someone somewhere would just end up judging you. So, don’t ever tell anyone, no matter how much you think you might be able to trust them, about what is going on inside your head. Never share with them the sins you have committed, the things that trigger your temptations or even just the emotions you feel. Don’t ever let anyone know what makes you sad, guilty, ashamed, lonely, angry or happy. Never let them know you are feeling any of those things right now. Instead, just keep it on the inside. If possible, figure out some way to escape those emotions like playing a video game, watching a movie, smoking a joint, drinking some liquor, raging, getting vengeance on someone, eating some ice cream, looking at pornography. See, if you play you cards right at this step, you’ll be jumping back into your sin and not even having to finish all 10 steps.

7. Revel in your entitlements.

Your life stinks right now because no one else is giving you what you expect from them and what you rightfully deserve from them. At all costs, you must avoid anything that looks like selflessness or personal sacrifice. Instead of serving others, simply complain about how no one is serving you. Instead of giving to others or taking the actions of love toward others, focus on all the ways others should be giving to you and aren’t. Focusing on these issues is the perfect way to start building up the justifications and excuses for why you went ahead and sinned even when you “knew better.” If you focus on this stuff enough, you will even be able to convince yourself that God not only understands why you went back into your sins, but He doesn’t mind and would probably have done the same Himself if He had ever lived in the world.

8. Quit reading God’s book.

You definitely don’t want to spend too much time reading your Bible. If you keep doing that, you might find things that help you keep from sinning. You might find the encouragement, comfort, strength, hope and faith to keep relying on God in the troubled times you face. You might learn about people who have faced exactly what you are facing and overcame by the grace and power of God working in their lives. This will, no doubt, be extremely detrimental to your plan to fall back into sin. So, whatever you do, don’t read that book. Just set it on your coffee table. Carry it with you to church (if you decide to go). But don’t read it.

9. Quit talking to God.

This is an absolute must. If you spend too much time praying, you might remember that the only way you can stay out of sin is to surrender your life to Him and let Him run it. That would be a real mistake on your path to fall back into sin. Additionally, if you keep praying you might realize you can get from Him all the things you are trying to get out of your sins–the peace, comfort, emotional support, help through pain, etc. Of course, if you feel the need to keep up with your Christian homework by saying your daily prayers, that can be okay. Just make sure you don’t actually share with God what you are feeling. Keep that tucked away on the inside. Just offer some trite phrases. Don’t think about what you’re saying, just come up with some forms and phrases you can repeat as necessary. “Dear God, thank You for Your many blessings. Forgive me of my sins. Be with the sick the world over. Bless the church. In Jesus name, Amen.” Something like that will accomplish both things. You can say your daily prayers without actually praying. This will work great to salve your conscience but let you go right back into your sinning.

10. Never talk to anyone about your faith.

If you spend too much time talking to folks about your faith in God, you might actually increase that faith. If you increase that faith, you might actually begin to think your sins won’t help you out as much as you initially hoped. If you recognize that, you may hop on the completely wrong path and just keep surrendering yourself to God. Above all, you don’t want to share what God has done for you in the past with other people because you might remember God’s way really does work when all the other ways have always failed you in the end.

As you can see, falling back into your sins really does take some work. I hope my list helps you as you strive to stay on the right path.

The 2 Greatest Lessons I’ve Ever Learned

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I’ve learned all kinds of lessons throughout my life. Some from other people, some from experience and investigation, some from Scripture. But I have boiled down all these to the two greatest lessons I’ve learned from life.

Lesson #1:

There is a God: I can’t help but look around at the world from the expansive universe and its elements of design to the microscopic human cell and its amazing wonders.

Lesson #2:

I’m not Him: Well, duh.

The point is that every day I’m learning that when I try to go my own way and run my life the way I want, I mess it up. If I would just do what God asks of me, I know His way works. It may not work on my timetable. But it works. If I work it His way, He’ll grant me freedom, peace, happiness. He’ll make my marriage work. He’ll make my family work. He’ll provide for me materially, spiritually, emotionally.

So, why on earth would I pick up the reins and try to run things today. Let me just surrender to Him. His way works.

Have you learned these lessons?

What Does the Bible Say about Foul Language?

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I don’t like to do this very often. However, as a Springboard for Your Spiritual Life, I would like to share with you the sermon I presented to the Franklin Church in Franklin, Tennessee yesterday. The topic was submitted to me as a question. 

You can find the sermon in its original formatting and also hear the audio at this link on the congregation’s website.

***WARNING: I will warn you that in this lesson, I felt it necessary by way of illustration to state some of the words and phrases that are considered profanity. If that makes you uncomfortable, you may wish to listen to someone else’s lesson on this subject instead.

What Does the Bible Say about Foul Language?

Introduction:

With the change of our assembly schedule, we have been missing our 2nd Sunday Questions and Answers sermon. The elders have decided for now to make our 5th Sunday assemblies our new schedule for the Q & A lessons. Today’s question is “What does the Bible say about foul language?” I am going to make a confession as we begin. I have some fear about this lesson. First, because it is hard to speak on this subject clearly without crossing the very bounds of propriety I’m trying to preserve. Second, since what I will say is not going to coincide with the traditional lessons on this topic, I fear some of you will be upset with me. However, I am 100% convinced what I am going to tell you is the truth. As I have always said, I don’t believe I have all the answers but I do believe the Bible does. If, when I am done, you think I have missed the boat on something, I would be happy to learn from you what you believe the Bible teaches.

 

Discussion:

I.      What the Bible doesn’t say.

A.    In the 1980s, George Carlin became famous for his very vulgar skit about the 8 words not allowed on television. I wish this lesson were that simple. I wish I could turn you to a passage that gave us the list of bad words. But I can’t. There just isn’t one.

B.    We have often heard preachers go to Matthew 26:74 where it says Peter began to curse and swear to speak against bad words today. However, in the first place, this text is not talking about cussing in the sense of bad words as we usually mean it. Rather, it means he either cursed the people he was talking to or himself. That is, not that he used “curse words,” but that he uttered curses against them. And then he swore, that is, he called on the name of God to take an oath that he was not one of the apostles. But even if this was a passage that referred to bad words, it doesn’t tell us what they would be.

C.    The fact is, there is not one single verse that provides us any teaching that declares that any particular word is inherently bad. In fact strictly speaking, there is no biblical concept of bad words. Don’t misunderstand, the Bible does speak of corrupt speech, what we might call using words badly. However, there is no decree from God that lists even one single word as bad simply because the word is bad. We need to be honest, when we tell someone a certain word is bad, we are not doing so because God has defined that word as bad. We are doing so either because we have decided that word in our culture violates some principles of God’s word or because our society and culture has determined the word is bad.

II.     What the Bible does say.

A.    While the Bible does not give us a list of words to avoid, it does provide some principles to guide our speech. I will share those principles with you and let you be the judge of what words you should and should not say.

B.    Principle #1: No corrupting talk (Ephesians 4:29)—Instead of words that tear down, we are supposed to use words that build up. The building up here does not refer solely to spiritual edification. This doesn’t provide a list of words to remove from our speech. But it does point out that belittling speech, shaming speech, berating speech, name-calling and other forms of speech that tear people down rather than build them up is foul in the Christian’s mouth.

C.    Principle #2: No careless words (Matthew 12:36-37)—This statement is somewhat difficult to nail down. But the word here means idle or lazy. I think the ESV gets the heart of its meaning when it says “careless.” That is, no matter what we say if we are speaking lazily, that is without careful consideration and thought, we will be judged for it. We could say “thoughtless speech.” Have you ever been in an argument and had to back up and say, “I didn’t mean that, it just came out.” That is speaking without thinking, without care. Jesus tells us not to do it.

D.    Principle #3: No irreverent or profane words (I Timothy 4:7; 6:20; II Timothy 2:16)—Where the ESV says “irreverent,” other translations say “profane.” In our day “profanity” has come to encompass all “bad words.” But profanity in the Biblical sense actually means to treat the holy in a low, base, light and irreverent manner. This includes taking the Lord’s name in vain. But it goes beyond that. Should we speak of the holy heaven in such a light manner as those do when they say, “For heaven’s sake” or “My heavens”? We should not treat lightly the holy teachings of Christ as some do when they joke about the Lord’s words.

E.    Principle #4: No cursing (Romans 12:14; James 3:9-10)—This is not about “cussing,” but rather calling curses down upon men. No doubt, we are allowed to warn of God’s curses on men, but it is not our job to curse men. When we say things like “damn you” or “go to hell” we are cursing men. That shouldn’t come from our mouths. However, this is not merely limited to those magic words that have been deemed curse words by our society. If we cursed a man saying “a pox upon you” as was popular in past centuries, we would be violating this principle.

F.    Principle #5: No filthy, foolish or crude speaking (Ephesians 5:4)—For the longest time, I tried to figure out the difference in the three terms used here. However, in the context of Ephesians 5:3, 5, 11-12, I am convinced Paul is not telling us about three different bad forms of speech but rather emphasizing one point by using parallelism. He is talking about the light and crude discussion of sinful activities, especially of sexual immorality. This is not simply talking about some words for sex our society deems base and vulgar. It also cautions us against speaking of immorality as if it is a joke or joking about it. It forbids what we would call dirty jokes as well.

G.   Principle #6: No malicious words (Ephesians 4:31)—We must not speak words that intend to harm either to someone’s face or behind their back. Let me make a point here. In our society, we are told the word for female dog is bad. And when using it as a derogatory attack on someone, it most definitely is. But for some reason, the word for female horse or female cow is okay. But is calling someone a nag or heifer any less malicious than the word we have declared bad?

H.    Principle #7: Speak honorably in the sight of men (II Corinthians 8:20-21)—This point is somewhat different than the others, but no less important. The passage we are reading is not talking about speech. It is talking about the use of money. However, please note the important principle that we want to do what is honorable not merely before God, but also before men. We do not want to leave ourselves open to accusations from men. We are not allowed to merely say that what others think is unimportant. If our society has declared that a word or phrase is bad, we should not use it because we leave ourselves open to an accusation from men. Rather, we need to speak in a way that will be deemed honorable among men.

III.   A few comments about euphemisms.

A.    According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, a euphemism is “the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensively harsh or blunt.” Since I became a Christian, I have heard numerous things about euphemisms ranging from “Christians should never, ever use euphemisms because that is just as bad as really cussing” to “what’s the big deal about euphemisms, Christians don’t have to worry about those at all.” I think both extremes are mistaken. I will make three comments about euphemisms and, as before, allow you to make the applications you deem fit.

B.    We cannot make blanket statements against euphemisms. Sadly, the statements that sweep with too broad a brush, discarding “euphemisms” as wholly sinful simply demonstrate ignorance about what a euphemism is. The fact is the Bible uses euphemisms. For instance, in I Samuel 24:3 when the ESV says Saul went in to relieve himself and the KJV says “cover his feet,” the Bible used a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying that Saul was defecating. Further, even those who have made such blanket rebukes of “euphemisms” use them and would laud their use at times. Have you ever heard someone say, “he used a four-letter-word”? “Four-letter-word” is a euphemism so the person relating the story can avoid actually saying the word and we with sensitive ears appreciate that euphemism. Finally, if we are going to make a blanket statement against any and all words described as euphemisms, we are going to be in some real trouble. According to The Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com) the words “assemble” and “fellowship” were viewed for several centuries as euphemisms for sexual intercourse.

C.    However, you need to consider your intent. While we cannot make the blanket statement that anything considered a euphemism is wrong, we shouldn’t take the opposite approach of saying God never said euphemisms were wrong so we don’t have to worry about them. Because of our magic “bad word” mentality, we sometimes think if we chose a word society doesn’t think is bad we are okay. But, we need to remember God is not as concerned with the actual words as what is intended by those words. For instance, I think each and every one of us would say I was violating the principle of “no cursing” found in Romans 12:14 and James 3:9-10 if I said “God damn you” to someone. But, brothers and sisters, if instead I looked at that person and said, “Gosh darn you,” was my intent any less to curse them just because I didn’t use the words our society has defined as bad? Yes, we do need to take care. Using a euphemistic phrase does not change the intent of our heart and the motivation of our speech. If our motivation violates one of the principles, the words may not be considered bad, but the speech is corrupt.

D.    You need to consider the insinuation. Euphemisms are a kind of insinuation. That is, instead of directly saying something, we are indirectly saying something. For instance, when we say someone “passed away” we are using a euphemism that means they died. We are insinuating their death. When we use euphemisms that indirectly mean or sound like “bad words” we are often insinuating those words and if nothing else leading others to think those words. If you say, “Oh my gosh” what do you think you insinuated in the minds of those who heard you? The same could be asked about words like “dang,” “heck,” “geez,” and others. As Christians, we do need to give careful consideration to the words we use because of the insinuations we make in the minds of those who hear. I know that doesn’t give us a list of bad euphemisms, but it gives us a principle I believe we need to consider as we choose our words carefully.

Conclusion:

Again, I wish this could have been as simple as here are the eight magic words you just aren’t allowed to use. But God didn’t give that to us. Rather, He gave us principles and we had better take care to consider them as we choose our words, phrases, jokes and other speech. We will be judged for every thoughtless, careless idle word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37), so we had better think before we speak. I hope this was helpful. As I said, I know it does not coincide with everything you have probably ever heard in the traditional lesson on these topics. If you believe I missed something or did not represent accurately how the Bible answers this question, I hope you will share that with me. May God bless us as we strive to surrender our speech to Him.

Boosting Your Courage to Spread the Gospel

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I’m happy to share with you this guest column by Terry Francis, minister for the East Shelby Church of Christ in Collierville, Tennessee.

The Courage to Ask Her Out

I was never good at the game. I was the funny outgoing band geek that always played the role of “big brother” to the good looking girls. So while I was entertaining everyone, my friends were getting to know girls, collecting phone numbers, asking girls out, and dating. It wasn’t until I was a senior in High School that I finally mustered up the nerve to try to date. My mom would have liked it if I had waited longer I’m sure.

 Looking back it’s funny to think about my friends who were playing the game. It was almost a competition to see how many girls they could talk to. It is still common for a group of guys to see who can get the most phone numbers I am told. It’s amazing how bold and confident people can be sometimes.

Another Kind of Courage

There have been times since I have been married that I had the same anxieties I experienced earlier in my pre-dating life. A waiter at a restaurant seems nice and interesting. I know I want to ask them something, but I hesitate. It’s not what you think. My wife is with me in those moments but she’s not what keeps me quiet. It’s my fear of rejection.

You see, there are times I meet a nice hard-working person in every day life and I think to myself, “I wonder if they are in a relationship with God. I wonder if they are saved.” Because of my fear—that same fear I had as a teenager—I sit back and say nothing. I drive away thinking, “I missed a great opportunity there! I should have said something.”

Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is far more important than dating. I wonder how effective we might be if we approached evangelism with the same gusto we did when we dove into the dating world. What if we collected phone numbers for Jesus? What if we tried to see how many personal studies we could set up?

Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). I need to realize the gospel is a better product than I ever was! My fears as a teenager in relation to girls were always “Am I good enough?” or “She’ll think I’m too fat” or “I’m too ugly for her.” My fears of rejection were based in a lack of confidence in me as a product. In short, I was ashamed of who I was. The gospel of Christ is perfect. There is no need to be ashamed. It is flawless. It fits everyone. I can go out and speak to everyone about the gospel with complete confidence.

 

The Springboard for Your Spiritual Life

I know what the problem is. It’s not that we think the gospel is inadequate. The problem goes back to me: “What if I say the wrong thing? What if I mess up? If they don’t agree to study with me, then I messed up.” Our job is to sow the seed (gospel) whether it grows and blooms into a mature plant or not. In the parable of the soils, three of the four types of ground did not accept the seed (Matthew 13:3–23). That means there will be more failures than successes. But that shouldn’t stop us. Our job is to sow the seed.

I must resolve that I have nothing to fear. Paul told Timothy God didn’t give us a timid spirit (2 Timothy 1:7). I must commit to exercising my power and love given to me by God to teach the gospel to all men.

May God help us all to speak up and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

“Be Good for Goodness’ Sake” the Atheists’ Pitfall

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Doy Moyer got me thinking

Last week, Doy Moyer, had an outstanding post about a couple of new campaigns by atheists to evangelize their anti-God faith. He pointed out  how contradictory and illogical this is because they want to talk about being good, but they have no standard for goodness. Who gets to decide what is good? Them? Me? I’m guessing they wouldn’t want me to be the standard of goodness.

This post got me thinking. There is an even more fundamental problem with this philosophy coming from atheists. Please understand, I too believe we should be good for goodness’ sake. I hunger and thirst for righteousness and do not simply want to be good so God won’t slap my hand or so I can get a reward in the end. I want to be good because I want to be good. Frankly, I’m glad to hear atheists do also. 

Atheists’ have the same problem Christians do

The big problem is atheists face the same downfall I do. We have botched it and continue to botch it. I’m guessing every atheist, though he hates to hear his feelings so accurately expressed in the Bible, knows the exact feeling Paul expressed in Romans 7:15-24:

“…I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am? Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (ESV).

Of course, I recognize atheists don’t believe in “the law of God” and therefore don’t have an objective standard of goodness. However, I’m sure each one has a personal standard of goodness. Whatever the standard, atheists who actually want to be good hit the same wall Christians hit. They want to be good. They have decided to be good. They long to be good. But they keep doing what they hate. Perhaps they decided they would quit coveting as Paul had decided. But they just keep going back to it. Perhaps they said they would stop their angry outbursts, but they just keep blowing up. Perhaps they said they would quit being arrogant, but their pride keeps rearing its ugly head.

Like Christians, they want to be good and they want to do it because being good is the right thing to do. Like Christians, they just can’t pull it off. They keep falling short at being completely good. Thus, they fuss at themselves and may even despair.

The Christians’ answer and the atheists despair

When Paul uttered his despairing cry, “Wretched man that I am? Who will deliver me from this body of death?” He had an answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

The sad part for the atheists who finally have the courageous honesty to admit they just can’t reach their goodness goal is they have no answer to this dilemma. “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” All that comes back is eery silence. Or perhaps they say, “Me. I’ll do it.” But wait, didn’t you get you in this mess your in? What makes you think it will be any different tomorrow? Go ahead, keep relying on your own reserves of strength. Keep researching your own weakness and pain. When you finally get to the point of despair and the pain is finally too great, then perhaps you can turn to Paul’s answer. Once you finally run out of faith in yourself, maybe, just maybe you can start having some faith in God because if you will surrender to Him, He will deliver you. As you grow in Him, you will become good for goodness’ sake. It will take time. It is about progress, not perfection. But in God, there is hope and He is waiting for you, giving you time to realize He is where your hope for being good for goodness’ sake really is.

So, for my part, I hope atheists keep pressing their “good for goodness’ sake” campaign. Sooner or later that will drive them to despair. Then because they have increased their desire and hunger for goodness, some of them will begin to realize they can only accomplish their goal if they surrender themselves to God.

Christians need to learn this too

Of course and sadly, there are many Christians that need to learn this lesson as well. If we are seeking goodness as a means to merely avoid hell or be rewarded with heaven, we will likely fall short. That leads to a legalistic approach of trying to figure how much is enough and what are the rules to help earn your way to the reward. That simply won’t cut it. Instead, if you want to be good because you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you will learn you can’t make it unless you just surrender to God. Then you will be seeking God’s way, not to earn your way out of hell or into heaven, but rather to simply be like God recognizing God’s way works.

How Not to Be a Lukewarm Christian

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icefire

Introducing Laodicea

The church in Laodicea is famous, though I’m sure if they knew it, they would not be pleased with their legacy. We all know Laodicea was the lukewarm church and Jesus was ready to spit them out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16). But what exactly does this mean and how can we use their example as a springboard for our own spiritual lives?

For a long time, I read and preached this metaphor as I had heard it from others. Perhaps you have heard it presented this way. The temperatures represent a scale of spirituality. Hot was being on fire for the Lord with amazing zeal. Cold was being as absolutely uninterested and unconcerned about the Lord and spiritual things as possible. In fact, it was more than a lack of interest, it would represent a positive animosity to God and His things. Lukewarm, on the other hand was somewhere in the middle. It was not complete animosity or apathy. But, it wasn’t complete zeal for God either. It represented the person who cared enough to “go to church” perhaps but was just resting on their laurels and not working for the Lord at all.

With this reading, Jesus is saying He would rather the Laodiceans be His complete and utter enemies than act like they are His friends but not really serve Him.

Perhaps that is Jesus’ meaning with this metaphor, but more recently, I have read it differently.

The Tale of Two Drinks

This metaphor is a picture of useful drinks versus useless drinks. We have to ask what makes hot and cold drinks useful. Hot drinks are useful, especially on a cold day because they are comforting and warming. I drank a hot cup of coffee while driving in my cold, heaterless car this morning. It was most useful and I wish had more even now. The cold drink is useful on a hot day because it is refreshing and cooling.

But what happens if the useful drinks are left to sit on the counter for an hour or two? They lose their distinction. As we learned from high school science, the difference in temperature between the drink and its environment will begin to regulate each other. The energy from the hot drink will dissipate. The warmth from the air will heat the cold drink. They will both become tepid, lukewarm and useless.

Now, stop and think. What happened to these drinks?

They lost their distinction. I needed a hot drink on that cold day. I wanted a cold drink on that hot day. These drinks lost their usefulness because they had become just like their surroundings. Instead of having a great impact on their environment, their environment had an impact on them.

Do you see now what Jesus was telling Laodicea. His point was not that He would rather they be His clear enemies than just so-so. He was saying He wanted them to stand out and be different from their environment. He wanted them to impact those that surrounded them. Sadly, the reverse had been true and so they were to Jesus like the tepid cup of coffee–disgusting and useless.

The Springboard for Us

What’s the springboard for us? Stand out. Be different. Don’t try to blend in. Don’t try to make everyone like you spiritually. If that happens, you have probably become useless to the Lord. We are only useful to Him to the degree that we are different from our environment and therefore make an impact on it. Today, don’t worry about what everyone else thinks about your spirituality. Embrace it. No, don’t flaunt it Pharisaically as if you are special for your spirituality. But don’t hide it either, embarrassed that someone might find out you are a Christian. Let your light shine before men so that they might see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.