May 5: DIVIDED LOYALTY
“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16
What is the most difficult thing for Jesus to bear? It is the drifting away of those who were once close to Him. Satan will do everything in his power to keep these drifters comfortable, for he does not want them to discover the dangers that threaten to swallow them whole. We tend to think of our archenemy as the inflictor of pain and torture, but he has much broader ways of causing God’s people to pull away from Him. This includes ‘inflicting’ them with comfort; a kind of false comfort that will temporarily distract, only leading to more distractions. The fact of the matter is this: those in the church of Laodicea are altogether divided between Christ and the glittering world.
This divided loyalty is so distasteful to Jesus that He is nauseated by it, saying “I will vomit you out of My mouth.” The seriousness of His statement should shake us up and arouse us from our comforts to go directly to Him and ask for help. His statement indicates that there is more hope for someone harboring an opposing spirit of all-out antagonism than there is for a smug Christian who houses an attitude of indifference and compromise. “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).
And this is where the confusion that Satan ushered into the world wreaks so much havoc. God’s beloved creation is engulfed in suffering of every kind. All too often, the presence of a lukewarm Christian has the effect of pushing people away from God which only intensifies their suffering. Think of the smug Pharisee who proudly declared, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men” (Luke 18:11). Be very careful not to falsely elevate yourself by pointing out the failures of others. This kind of superficial thinking gives a satisfied ‘nod’ toward being “respectable” in the eyes of the world but lacks awareness of the spiritual embankment that the enemy is building to surround you and close you in on every side (Luke 19:43).
In the eyes of God Almighty, there is no “sitting on the fence”. To have a divided loyalty subjects a person to one of Satan’s most successful delusions: believing he is in a saved condition, but is actually in a tragic state of blindness regarding the workings of God’s grace. Being lukewarm is highly toxic because the true condition of the soul is merely whitewashed (Matthew 23:27). The precious and humble Peddler of Grace is gently knocking on the heart’s door, but the lukewarm Christian thinks He is just another solicitor and declines to open it.
Our loving Lord approaches individuals and entire churches, simply asking to be allowed in. Do not be indecisive or lukewarm, having a form of godliness but denying its power . . . always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:5a,7)