Repeats

Like a dog that returns to its vomit, a fool does the same foolish things again and again.

Proverbs 26:11

Strong words from Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. His writings are preserved for us and we do well to take heed of his thoughts. As I read these words, I couldn’t help but think about Facebook, some posted thoughts, and more significantly, the comments posted in response.

We have all been there. We saw the words from a ‘friend’ and they sounded extreme. Could have been politics, religion, or a recent news item, but we are drawn into the mistake of putting our own ‘correction’ to the ‘foolishness’ expressed by the original person. Of course we are not alone, because others have seen the words and want to express their own views, and it can get messy! Sometimes we even return to our own foolish words and repeat them, or even over-emphasise them to the effect that they sound even more out of order, and just plain daft! Been there? Know someone who has done this? We are not alone.

Solomon compares the fool going over the same wrong things repeatedly, to the dog returning to its vomit. The big difference is that the dog can’t help it, and we can! But true to our base nature, we defend our errors again and again, and to others it all looks and sounds so petty, false, plain wrong, and very unconvincing. Yes, Solomon was a wise man!

Tepid

I like my tea and coffee warm enough to drink, so that it isn’t too hot, and certainly not cold! Have you ever laid your hot drink down for too long, and lifted the cup to your lips only to discover your instinct was to spit it out? I have. God feels that way too. I can easily understand when we are stone cold, but surely if there’s some warmth, even if it is tepid, God would be ok about that? Apparently not!

The trouble about any liquid in a kettle that’s lukewarm is you don’t know if it is on the way to getting hotter, or just drifting into coldness. We can be like that, and God knows it. Trouble is we can play pretend that we are getting hotter, when all the time we are letting ourselves get colder and colder until we are dead stone cold!

So, what are the signs that we are dropping in Spiritual temperature? How about these suggestions for a starter?

Lacking interest in reading the Bible regularly.

Not praying because we don’t feel like it, and thinking it makes no difference.

Skipping church when there is a speaker or program we don’t like.

Avoiding Christian company because it makes you uncomfortable.

Behaving as if you know better than your ‘other’ Christian friends.

Don’t feel good enough for church or God, and don’t want to try.

It’s likely we suffer from at least one of these, but the real trouble is that we don’t see it. On top of that our friends don’t want to tell us, so it goes unchecked. I might go as far as to suggest that if our Christian example reduces the witness for good in a seeking, unbeliever’s heart, we are lukewarm. We can be absolutely certain that it hasn’t missed God’s attention. He knows, and although He is a God of mercy, love and grace, He is also a God who keeps His Word which says clearly in Hebrews 10:13, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Also in the words of Revelation 3:16, So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.