Here it is, the first full day of fall. Daytime temperatures don't reflect it yet, but soon they will.
I'm reminded of my sweet mother when a change of season comes.
After being married to the love of her life for 57 years, my mother had now been alone for 16 years. Like most women of that era, she had depended on my daddy for whatever needed to be taken care of around the home she had now lived in for sixty years. So, it was very difficult for her to have to depend on someone else even at 93.
I'm reminded of my sweet mother when a change of season comes.
After being married to the love of her life for 57 years, my mother had now been alone for 16 years. Like most women of that era, she had depended on my daddy for whatever needed to be taken care of around the home she had now lived in for sixty years. So, it was very difficult for her to have to depend on someone else even at 93.
"I really hate to bother John", my mother would say," but it's pretty cold in the house this morning."
Mother would call and in an apologetic way, ask if John could come and turn on her furnace. Of course, he would; he always did. As is typical of these early fall days, by afternoon, the heat would return and once again John would gladly make his way to Mother's home and turn on the air.
"I turned on the fan," she would say, "but it still seems awfully stuffy in here."
And, so it would go, day after day, for the next six weeks or so when finally the weather would settle down and her furnace could be turned on until spring.
I'm sure many of you, like me, go to bed at night out on top of the covers. Then, in the middle of the night, you find yourself grabbing for that blanket because you're cold. It's difficult to get just the right temperature at just the right time and make it last.
So, it is with our houses of worship. Being inspired by God, John the Apostle wrote this to the Church in Laodicea:
"I know what you have done, and that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were either cold or hot! but since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I intend to spit you out of my mouth!" Revelations 3:16 Phillips Translation
Some churches are made up of people who are either hot or cold. They are either on fire for the Lord or they are cold as a wedge. But, most believers are lukewarm and God is not pleased with a body of believers like that.
It's really easy to allow ourselves to gradually become cold. We "throw off the cover" so to speak and then, before we know what has happened, we are cold. We immerse ourselves in church attendance; diligently read our bibles daily; pray through our days and feel the closeness of God. Then, for whatever reason, we find other things to do on Sundays and we skip church. With each Sunday it becomes easier to neglect coming together with other believers in God's house. The busyness of each day occupies us so we put other things above our quite times with God in prayer and bible study. And, like the church at Laodicea, God is not pleased with us.
How is your Christian thermostat? How is your walk with the Lord? Are you one of the Laodiceans or are you in tune with what God has called you to do for Him?
Think about it............
Mother would call and in an apologetic way, ask if John could come and turn on her furnace. Of course, he would; he always did. As is typical of these early fall days, by afternoon, the heat would return and once again John would gladly make his way to Mother's home and turn on the air.
"I turned on the fan," she would say, "but it still seems awfully stuffy in here."
And, so it would go, day after day, for the next six weeks or so when finally the weather would settle down and her furnace could be turned on until spring.
I'm sure many of you, like me, go to bed at night out on top of the covers. Then, in the middle of the night, you find yourself grabbing for that blanket because you're cold. It's difficult to get just the right temperature at just the right time and make it last.
So, it is with our houses of worship. Being inspired by God, John the Apostle wrote this to the Church in Laodicea:
"I know what you have done, and that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish that you were either cold or hot! but since you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I intend to spit you out of my mouth!" Revelations 3:16 Phillips Translation
Some churches are made up of people who are either hot or cold. They are either on fire for the Lord or they are cold as a wedge. But, most believers are lukewarm and God is not pleased with a body of believers like that.
It's really easy to allow ourselves to gradually become cold. We "throw off the cover" so to speak and then, before we know what has happened, we are cold. We immerse ourselves in church attendance; diligently read our bibles daily; pray through our days and feel the closeness of God. Then, for whatever reason, we find other things to do on Sundays and we skip church. With each Sunday it becomes easier to neglect coming together with other believers in God's house. The busyness of each day occupies us so we put other things above our quite times with God in prayer and bible study. And, like the church at Laodicea, God is not pleased with us.
How is your Christian thermostat? How is your walk with the Lord? Are you one of the Laodiceans or are you in tune with what God has called you to do for Him?
Think about it............
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