rainy days are the best. 
lately the Lord has been teaching me about devotion. It’s really weird because my quiet times through James, and both my freshmen study and college bible study have touched on this topic this week. So I guess it’s something He really wants me to hear, huh? haha
Francis Chan puts it like this:
“…As i see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are “lukewarm” are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.
In Revelation 3:15-18, Jesus says,
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; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
This passage is where our modern understanding of lukewarm comes from. Jesus s saying to the church that because they are lukewarm, He is going to spit the out of His mouth.
There is no gentle rendering of the word spit in Greek. This is the only time it is used in the New Testament, and it connotes gagging, hurling, retching. Many people read this passage and assume Jesus is speaking to saved people. Why?
When you read this passage do you naturally conclude that to be “spit”out of Jesus’ mouth means you’re a part of his kingdom? When you read the words “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,” do you think that He’s describing saints? When He counsels them to “buy which clothes to wear” in order o cover their “shameful nakedness,” does it sound like advice for those already saved?
I thought people who were saved were already made white and clothed by Christ’s blood.
last night i couldnt fall asleep. because i KNOW I’ve been lukewarm, and even prideful in the fact that I’ve given “more” than what others offer to the Lord. and to be honest, I’m scared for this generation. I started thinking about how often we live off of emotions and recognize our lack of devotion, but RARELY act upon it. And how we’ve come to measure our devotion to God based upon how much of the Bible we’ve memorized and how many things we do to serve the church.
so what is devotion? James says that the type of devotion that is acceptable to God calls us “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
essentially, to love.
It’s not about how great of a Christian people see me as. Even when I’ll talk with other believers about God, I catch myself just wanting to say profound things, or get them to think I’m holy or something…Rarely do I want to hear what they have to say (james 1:19) Am I really wanting to listen to other’s problems and help lift those things to the Lord, rather than trying to tell them in my own words and opinion how to live? and even when i do listen, am I doing it out of love? If my identity was truly in Christ, I wouldn’t need to prove myself, or gain a reputation. Our devotion to the Lord should be measured by how we love, the things that people can’t see, and maybe won’t see….the things that are done out of humility, or service, rather than pride or duty.
And even still, am I willingly giving God EVERYTHING that I have daily? Or am I giving Him as Francis Chan put it, my “leftovers”? Jackie Kendall says that its like a guy going up to a girl saying “I love you so much, and i want to be devoted to you. For 365 days a year I want to love you with everything I have…But one of those days I want to keep for myself. Will you marry me?”
it’s absurd to say I would be okay if my husband wasn’t devoted to me even for just a day. So why would God want any different?
My devotion meter (from 1-10) is probably at a 5 right now. the very number that God, the creator, the lover of sinners, the humble king… says He will spit out! In fact, anything other than a 10 is unacceptable to the Lord.
…
i’m going all in. are you?
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He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:59-60
Today i talked to one of my summer project friends. he shared with me how he met an atheist girl who was really interested in Christ and the validity of the gospel. how encouraging!
it was encouraging but convicting, haha.
Lately my faith has been put on hold. some stuff came up and its really shaken and fogged up the way I view God and myself.
But then theres this Word.
No matter what excuse I use to run away from the Lord, to get out of the privilege of sharing this gospel, this amazing, life-changing, good, news….I am still called to a purpose now.
and that is to proclaim the kingdom of God.
There is no excuse to not share with the world what I have.
some questions to chew on…
What in my mind is making me believe that He is not worthy of such an effort?
What excuses am I making to not be diligent in the way I live and to not expand His kingdom?
and more importantly…
What is preventing me from encountering the love of God in a new and deeper way today…?
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the Lord is my helper,
i will fear the world no longer.
“They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
-hebrews 11:37-40
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ive been selfish with time for too long.
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.
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.
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its Yours.
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” ephesians 5:15-17
“whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not men.” colossians. 3:23
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gratitude.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
revelation 2:3-5
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God > money
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
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i live in a constant struggle with grace. and today was no different.
i sat down for the first time in weeks in prayer before the Lord, confessing of all this junk that i had managed to build up and find my identity in. And God responded with a word i really didn’t expect him to say: “created.”
God CREATED me. he created me exactly the way i was for a reason. Even my quirks, my struggles and temptations, my emotions…he created me with every single “flaw” and he deemed it beautiful.
There have been countless times when I would think to myself, “okay, I just need to overcome this sin and I’ll be fine.” or “If i could just fix this, then I’ll be okay.” but I have never, EVER thought, “God loves me, INCLUDING my flaws.”
he loves me.
not because I am perfect. not because im not perfect.
but he loves me…
because im His.
———————
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
psalm 139:13-16
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