“I know your works, that you are neither cold not hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”  Revelation 3:15, 16

Lukewarm or Prodigal?

One summer I attended a Bible study with some women of LCC. We went through a book entitled “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. One of the chapters in the book really caught my attention as it dealt with lukewarm Christians. But I wonder, is that an oxymoron? Can a person really be a Christian and be lukewarm? Can Jesus be my Savior if He is not my Lord?

Many Scriptures describe the condition of being lukewarm. For example, the parable of the ten virgins—five were wise and five were foolish. Even though the foolish virgins called Him Lord, He responded saying, “I do not know you” (Matthew 25:1-12). I believe He is saying they were lukewarm. Jesus warns us to “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day not the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” It sounds like Jesus is talking about being lukewarm here also.

2 Corinthians 13:5 instructs us to, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.”

I am concerned about some friends and family members who claim to believe in Jesus, yet their lifestyle says otherwise. Are they just prodigal, or are they lukewarm? (Only God knows.) They say they believe, but even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19, 20). The difference is love and obedience. If we love God, we will keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).

I think the scariest thing is to have a false sense of your salvation. Are you okay with your walk? Are you “dead” to any conviction, ignoring your sin so that His “grace may abound”? Do you honor Him with your lips while your heart is far from Him? Have you ever been “chastened” by the Lord? Are you abiding in His Word and obeying Him? These are some serious things to consider!

Only God knows our hearts. Are we aware that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts will deceive us and our minds can rationalize and justify our sinful ways. However, rationalizing is not a way out—repentance is!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23, 24).