As I focus on eternal things, there is a growing sense within me of the stark contrast between the shadowy images of this life, and the sharp clarity of the next. Despite mankind’s (and the church’s) best efforts to find (or create) the “middle ground” here on earth, there is still no middle ground in heaven. There is a jarring reality to eternity that we can’t really comprehend, but on the day that we face it, there will be no escaping its preeminence and permanence.
Today we have the luxury of rationalization, but on that day only the truth will prevail. As the Kingdom of God approaches, the illusion of the middle ground is being destroyed. It is the fulfillment of the God’s promise to spew the lukewarm from His mouth. This morning I felt like the Lord gave me a picture of what it means to be lukewarm; He said that it is when you resemble “Him” enough to remind the enemy of his hatred for “The Father”, but not enough to remind “The Father” of “The Son”.
This caused me to recall something He told me years ago, which is that we’ve tried to use His grace like a stolen credit card; illegitimately attempting to obtain things that haven’t been accounted to us. As I was worshipping this morning I was reminded of the fact that one day the books will be opened, the accounts will be balanced and the reality of who we really are will become apparent. The song I was listening to said it this way:
Where will we turn when our world falls apart
And all of the treasures we’ve stored in our barns
Can’t buy the Kingdom of God
And who will we praise when we’ve praised all our lives
Men who build kingdoms and men who build things
Heaven does not know their names
What will we fear when all that remains is God on the throne
With a child in His arms and love in His eyes
And the sound of His hearts cry
(From the song “Poverty” by Jason Upton)
The Apostle Paul said, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Throughout the epistles he exhorts us to do the same. It’s likely that none of us want to think of ourselves as being childish, or as inhabiting the middle ground, but I sense the Lord challenging us to allow Him to reveal the “childish things” that we still need to put away. To uncover those instances where we’ve become callous and numb to other people’s pain, or those circumstances that we’ve unwittingly become slaves to, or those things that we’re coveting and maybe even making into idols.
He wants to show us those places where we’re straddling the fence, where self-pity, jealousy, and bitterness dwell. And to expose the imaginings that have replaced the genuine prophetic vision He means to give us. On the appointed day, each of us will wake up from the dream of this life, and step into the reality of eternity.
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Thermodynamics
Posted in Commentaries, Word Pictures, tagged heat, heat transfer, lukewarm, nuclear, spiritual temperature, thermodynamics on May 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
One of the most unexpected elements of my adult life has been my career path. When I graduated from high school my interests were firmly rooted in the arts (e.g. art, music, poetry…). If you’d have told me then that I would spend almost the next 25 years working in nuclear related industry, I would’ve laughed; but isn’t that how life goes?
One of the first things I had to study in nuclear power was the characteristics of heat (i.e. thermodynamics). This is because a nuclear reaction generates a tremendous amount of heat and our ability to use that energy depends greatly on our ability to properly manage the heat. Since we know that God is reflected in His creation, I believe that there are some Kingdom principles that can be derived from looking at how heat tends to move from one thing to another.
The first thing that is necessary for there to be a transfer of heat is a difference in temperature between two objects (or substances). When that occurs, the energy will flow from the object at the higher temperature (i.e. energy) to the one with the lower temperature. The larger that difference in temperature is, the greater the rate of transfer will be.
Another significant factor is the position of one object relative to the other. If there is a gap between them than the heat must travel through the air to get from one to the other, which greatly diminishes the amount of energy that actually makes it to the second object. On the other hand, if the objects are touching each other, the transfer of heat is maximized (e.g. a metal pot on an electric burner).
I believe that these principles demonstrate how God means for the lives of His people to touch those who are in the world. The first requirement is that our lives be visibly different from those living for the world. Unless people see something better in our lives, we’ll be of little influence in them wanting to change theirs.
When we live like the world, our spiritual temperature is the same (or similar) to theirs and so little or nothing will pass from one to the other. In these cases, our words have no impact.
If we hope to affect our surroundings we must stay connected to our power source. The minute a heater loses its energy source, the air around it begins to carry away any residual energy, causing it to rapidly cool down; and so it is with Gods people.
Another significant issue is our proximity to those whom we hope to affect. If we hope to reach a dying world, we’re going to have to find a way to connect with its people. While our prayers will definitely prepare the soil, at some point we’ll need to spend time in the garden if we ever hope to see a harvest.
I believe that many people in the church hide from the world because in the past, when we have engaged the world, it impacted us more than we impacted it. The energy always flows from hot to cold, so before we can engage the world, we need to be more passionate for our God than we are, or the world is, for sin.
The Lord said that we are to be salt and light to world, which means that as a child of God we ought to be flavoring and illuminating every situation we encounter. He says that we are the aroma of Christ, so there ought to be something tangibly different when we walk in a room and our scent ought to linger even after we leave.
The Lord said that He would eventually spew the “lukewarm” from His mouth and I believe those days are upon us. He has placed the ultimate power source within us, in the form of His Holy Spirit. If we will live by that Spirit, we have the ability to change the spiritual temperature of every situation that we come into. If we’ll come along side our lost neighbors, friends, family members and even strangers, the power of Gods love will affect them, whether they understand it or not.
As the world becomes a colder and darker place, God has already made a provision. It is time for the children of God to plug into their source and to become what God has called us to be.
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