We spend a great deal of time and effort to present ourselves to the world in a certain light. We use our time and talents to obtain wealth and knowledge to better our standing and security. We use our financial blessings to have the perfect style and the possessions to represent how we want the world to see us. That could mean a mansion or a tiny home, a Jaguar or Subaru. We spend a certain amount of time each day “working on our image” preparing to leave the house. That could look like a movie star or business person or maybe pajamas. There is no condemning anyone for this. It is the way of this world and how we choose to live in it. This is how we identify with the world we live in. We use the 5 senses we were given; sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch to create our own image, and then proceed to make judgements on a person’s heart by the way they show up.
Laodicea was the wealthiest of the seven cities, known for its banking industry, manufacture of wool, and a medical school that produced eye salve. But the city at one time had a problem with its water supply. The water was carried by an aqueduct that carried the water from a hot spring. By the time the water reached the city it was not hot or refreshingly cold, it was lukewarm.
The Apostle John writes in Revelation 3:14-22 these words of the Lord to the church of Laodicea. ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of My mouth. You say ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich *(real spiritual treasures); and white clothes to wear *(His righteousness), so you can cover your shameful nakedness: and salve to put on your eyes *(medicine from Him to heal their eyes so they could see the truth), so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
You see here the Lord is not condemning His people for their wealth or high standing, He is warning them to take a look at their heart. Christ was showing them that true value was not in material possessions, but in a right relationship with God. The church had become luke-warm and thus distasteful and repugnant. The believers didn’t take a stand for anything: indifference has led to idleness. By neglecting to do anything for Christ, the church has become hardened and self-satisfied, and it was destroying itself. There is nothing more disgusting than a halfhearted, in-name-only Christian who is self-sufficient. Don’t settle for following God halfway. Let Christ fire up your faith and get you into the action!
*parentheses are mine
