Author’s Note: This post concludes a 3-post set offered in companionship to a 3-part sermon series I preached in August titled “Distracted”. You can view the series here, as I preach from 3 of John’s 7 Letters to the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3 to talk about the distractions of busyness, the fear of missing out, and complacency. Thanks for reading.
There is an old fable about a frog who was put into a kettle of tepid or lukewarm water. He was quite comfortable in the water and so stayed there. Gradually, however, the water temperature was turned up until it came to a boil. The change was so incremental that the frog did not perceive the danger and he was cooked to death.
Perhaps that fable is an illustration of complacency and the dangers such a condition poses to our faith. The living Christ describes the Church at Laodicea, in Revelation 3:14-22, as “lukewarm”. He wishes they were either hot or cold, but because their spiritual condition is lukewarm, he threatens to spit them out of his mouth. As a coffee drinker I find I can relate to the illustration. I like my coffee hot or cold (iced coffee being a relatively new enjoyment). When it’s lukewarm? No thanks! Yuck! In fact, I think I have spit it back into the cup before.
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