And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things…I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot… So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Revelation 3:14-16 (KJV)
This week, I heard a wonderful message at my Wednesday night bible class. My Pastor, Alan Greene, taught a lesson titled “Keep Your Heart Right with God.” As much as I would have dearly loved for all of you to have been there, sitting right next to me on the church pews, I know that wasn’t possible. So I’m going to use a few of my Pastor’s words in this week’s blog (of course with his permission).
Friend, when you pick up the newspaper and read the headlines, you quickly learn that you are living in a perilous time—evil is running rampant. This world, along with society mores, has turned completely upside down. Good is now called evil…evil is now called good.
Not only has this world changed, but also lurking in the shadows are some charismatic people who have disguised themselves in holy garb (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These masked villains are waiting for an opportunity to entice you into their wicked world of deception. Some of these deceivers flourish in large churches, diluting God’s Word with worldly ideas. Other villains are popular authors, although they claim Christianity, they insist on rewriting and misinterpreting God’s Word. Truly, this is an evil time.
Although our world is evil, be assured, it will get worse. Great, that is just what you wanted to hear! “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13, KJV).
Since evil will prosper in this world and will continue to get worse, it is time for you to examine your heart. You need a heart-shocking, spiritual examining, cholesterol-blocking message that will restart your spiritual heart and help clean out your spiritual arteries. You need a spiritual resuscitation so that you will not become lukewarm!
This world has changed from what it was thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. Television programming, musical lyrics, dress codes…all of them have changed. Face it, society now flourishes on sex, greed, lies, and hate. Sin surrounds you, and as such, it is difficult to maintain a soul-preserving connection to God. But you must! Therefore, stay close to Him in prayer and read His Word, because you cannot afford to be lulled into acceptance of sin.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, KJV).
Wow! That preceding paragraph could have been written just last week as a description of our world today. But it wasn’t. It was written about two thousand years ago, as a warning to let you know when the time of your rescue is getting close. That time could be any second now: today, tomorrow, next week, or even next year. Are you ready?
For hundreds of years, people have been saying that our Lord’s return could be any day now. A few individuals have even gone so far as to set erroneous dates and hours of our Lord’s return so that people no longer want to hear it and they even laugh about it (2 Peter 3:3-6). But look at it this way, each day that passes without Christ’s return, is one day closer to His return.
The return of your Lord is eminent so get prepared! Protect your heart and make sure that you are right with God.
But at the same time, be warned that you have an enemy who will to try to contaminate you. That enemy is Satan. He will do everything in his power to destroy you because he wants to disqualify you from heaven. Therefore, he sends artery clogging deposits of doubt, envy, hatred, and strife (Galatians 5:19-21). He aggravates, he irritates, and he annihilates. He wants to pollute your heart and poison your attitude. He wants you to become like him—hateful, boastful, and unthankful.
Fight Satan and don’t let him clog your arteries with bad attitudes that may bring on a spiritual heart attack. Keep your spiritual arteries clean from the pollutants of this world. If someone does you wrong, don’t become filled with rage; instead, bite your tongue and remember, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19, KJV). Let God handle all of your fights—you must keep focused on staying pure. (see April 17, 2011, blog posting “Stand Your Ground—The Battle Belongs to God).
Just as a heart patient watches his/her diet and gets plenty of exercise, spiritually, you have to watch your diet and get plenty of exercise. Feed yourself healthy food in the form of God’s Word, staying away from all worldly garbage. Exercise your vocal cords by singing God’s praises. Then exercise your knees through knee-bends in prayer. Don’t forget to exercise your shoulders through lifting your arms in praise (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22). Do you get the picture?
So get ready for your Lord’s return. Please heed the advice of my Pastor, “Don’t let your spiritual arteries be filled with the plaque of this world so that you have a spiritual heart attack.”
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 (KJV)
Three Key Concepts:
1. You are living in a perilous time.
2. Evil in this world can clog your spiritual arteries and slowly choke your heart.
3. You need the proper spiritual nutrition and exercise to avoid a spiritual heart attack.
