While waiting for a slice of pizza to cool down enough so as to not sear my mouth and make my tongue feel like fuzz for the next week, I said to my wife, “I like lukewarm pizza, not hot pizza–sort of how I like lukewarm Christians and not hot Christians.”
“Oh, no,” she responded. “You don’t like hot religious people but you really like hot Christians.”
She was spot on. I made the terrible error of confusing real Christianity with religion. I love hot Christians. I love people who are genuine, caring, honest, unselfish and willing to sacrifice for others. It is religious people who make me want to leave the room. I’m talking about people who use religious argot and want to turn every conversation into a theological discourse. I’m talking about people who believe their value system is the only value system in the world and universe because it is God’s value system. There is little opportunity for variance because they have “the truth.”
So let’s forget them and go back to hot Christians. I love Christians who sizzle Christ-likeness. Jesus had a really difficult time stomaching religious people. See Matthew 23. He was very comfortable with real people who knew they had needs, people who recognized their failures and wanted help to do better.
It’s a good thing my wife straightened me out on this considering Revelation 3:16, “So then because you art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” God really does want us to be the best we can. He just longs for us to be genuinely caring in how we interface with others.
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 23, 2010
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org