I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot. [Revelation 3:15 AMP]
I have wondered about this verse and why it is bad to be lukewarm. I like to drink lukewarm water. I think Dr J Vernon McGee offers an interesting take on the setting for this verse:
"This had a background and a local meaning for the people in that day. Being down in the valley, they had difficulty getting water in Laodicea. The Laodiceans built an aqueduct to bring cold water down from the mountains. When it left the mountains, it was ice cold, but by the time it made that trip all the way down the mountains to Laodicea, it was lukewarm. And lukewarm water is not very good. Down in the valley where the Lycus River joins the Maeander River, there are hot springs. However, when they would take this hot water up to Laodicea, by the time it got there, it was no longer hot — it had become lukewarm water."This makes sense to me. It is not so much that the water is lukewarm but that it is not what it was. It is no longer refreshing. Not therapeutic. It's intended purpose has been lost in the journey from the mountains or the springs. Seems to be a metaphor for our spiritual journey.
John reports to us in his gospel how Jesus spoke of rivers of living waters springing up from within the believer. Such spiritual waters heal and refresh. This to me the crux of keeping our lives from being lukewarm. Allowing the Spirit to flow in and out of us keeps us from lukewarmness.
Come Holy Spirit. Flow into us. Flow out of us. That you might heal and refresh.
... this devotion is part of a series from the book of Revelation
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