How Do You Drink Your Coffee?

If you drink coffee, do you like it lukewarm or room temperature? Unless you enjoy iced coffee, the answer is no. You want it piping hot. Why else would you pour it into an insulated mug? And even if you drink iced coffee, I am sure you don’t like it lukewarm either. It is called “iced” for a reason; it is best enjoyed ice cold.  

As we begin the craziness that is March Madness, think about how you cheer for your favorite team. Mine is Ohio State, who takes on Loyola University Chicago in a first round game. Even if your favorite team is not in the tournament, you become a fan of the teams you have picked in your bracket pool. You will watch the games on television, possibly dressed from head to toe in your team’s logo gear, your smart phone nearby so you can follow the social media chatter.

If you are really obsessed with the tournament, you might have multiple televisions or computer screens set up in order to catch the various games being played simultaneously. If that is not you, will you, during commercials, timeouts, and halftime, flip from channel to channel to catch up on the other games in progress? And at some point, some of us will even yell at the players or coaches, as it they can hear us, or even care what we have to say. The word fan comes from the word fanatic, which means “excessive enthusiasm or intense devotion.” Doesn’t sound lukewarm, does it?

If you are a follower of Jesus, now think about your relationship with Him. Would you consider that relationship one of piping hot or lukewarmness? Do you sometimes just casually pursue Jesus, or do you regularly go after Him with all that is within you? We don’t like lukewarm or room temperature coffee, nor are we lukewarm about our favorite sports team, yet in the most important relationship we can ever have, we are often only lukewarm.

God does not us to be lukewarm. In fact, in the last book in the Bible, we see these words written to the Church in Laodicea – “So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). 

We are called to seek after God with every ounce of energy we have. We see this very thing written in the opening verse of Psalm 63 – “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.” In Psalm 42:1, we find a similar message – “As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”

So, you see, we are not to be lukewarm followers of Jesus, but instead, we are to be piping hot in our pursuit of Him. And the good news is that if we seek Him in that manner, the Bible over and over again instructs us that we will find Him. Here is just one example. As King David appeals to his son Solomon to seek after God in a piping hot manner, here is what we read in 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 – “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”

Just as your coffee tastes best when hot, your relationship with Jesus “tastes” best when it too is hot. Jesus is not lukewarm about you, and you should not be lukewarm about Him either!

So, today, I ask you, are you only lukewarm for Jesus? If so, right now ask Him to ignite a passion in you that turns your lukewarmness into piping hot!

I wrote a similarly themed reflection earier this week. You can read that post by clicking here.

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