Neither Hot nor Cold: The Cost of Indifference

Sister Mabel sits in the third pew every Sunday, her hymnal open, her wrapper perfectly pressed. But her heart is elsewhere. She prays the same prayers she prayed ten years ago, attends the prayer meetings out of habit, gives her offerings without thought. Her family notices she no longer speaks of Jesus as though He matters. Her children see a mother who believes in God the way one believes the sun will rise—as a fact, not a fire. This is the danger Christ warns us against in Revelation.

The church at Laodicea was neither persecuted like those in Smyrna, nor seduced by false doctrine like those in Pergamos. Their sin was subtler: they had become comfortable. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” Christ tells them (Revelation 3:17). They confused material blessing with spiritual health. They had lost their first love.

Lukewarm Christianity is more dangerous than cold rejection. A man who openly denies Christ can still hear the gospel and repent. But the lukewarm believer has deceived himself into thinking he already possesses what he has abandoned. He attends church without hunger. He prays without expectation. He reads Scripture without asking God to speak. His faith has become a cultural habit, not a living relationship. This is precisely what grieves the Holy Spirit.

In Nigeria, we see this danger everywhere. Young professionals who grew up in vibrant youth fellowships now attend church to maintain respectability, not to encounter God. Pastors’ wives who once interceded for hours now merely go through the motions. Believers who once wept at the altar now sit unmoved. We have traded the cross for comfort, the resurrection for respectability.

Christ’s response is severe: “I will spue thee out of my mouth.” This is not hatred—it is disgust at self-deception. A lukewarm Christian is like a marriage partner who remains in the home but has ceased to love, ceased to hope, ceased to give. Such a union is a corpse, not a covenant.

But notice what follows: Christ offers a remedy. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire… and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:18). He calls them back to passion, to costly discipleship, to eyes wide open to His presence.

Examine yourself today. Has your Christianity grown cold—marked by open rebellion—or lukewarm, marked by empty routine? If you have drifted into mere profession without passion, repent now. Ask God to ignite your heart afresh. Return to the practices that once drew you near: fervent prayer, deep Scripture reading, radical generosity, bold witness. Let your faith burn hot again.

Lord, set my heart ablaze with the fire of Your love, that I may never settle for lukewarm obedience.