The Risk of a Lukewarm Faith

Have you ever tasted something so awful that you just wanted to spit it out?

For me, it was the barium prep for my CT scan.

I remember it all too well.

The nurse handed over the bottle of barium and instructed me to drink it within a certain length of time.

Thank the Lord my wonderful husband was there to keep me on track.

The taste of that wicked brew was absolutely vile – like metallicized milk.

If I think about it too long, I can still taste it. Yuck.

No kidding, it took everything in me not to throw it up right there in a lobby full of other patients.

When something is that bad, naturally we’re disgusted at how offensive it is to the senses.

Speaking of disgusting (and for a more familiar analogy), think of “room temperature” black coffee.

There it is sitting on your kitchen counter.

Without thinking you drink a big gulp – only to realize it had gotten cold and you needed to spit it out.

Barium or lukewarm coffee – no matter – the vile taste of those conjures up a “simplistic” picture of disgust.

Yes, I realize that.

But, at the very least and for me, it prompts a serious reflection of one of the warning verses in the book of Revelation.

The reprimand comes from our Savior Himself.

Lukewarm Faith – Jesus Speaks

If you turn all the way back to Revelation, you’ll see how Jesus responded to lukewarm faith.

In the passage, He is referring directly to the church at Laodicea.

After reading it though, do you see how a lukewarm faith is just as offensive to the Lord today?

Check this out.

¹⁵ ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. ¹⁶ So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth. – Revelation 3:15-16, (NASB.)¹

Many people don’t like to face this, but you have to make a decision when it comes to faith and salvation.

There is only one way – thru Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Doing church” on Sundays and then bowing to the world the rest of the week is a recipe for peril when it comes to your eternity.

It’s obvious in the Bible that God doesn’t want lukewarm believers.

Let’s look at some dictionary definitions of “lukewarm”:

halfhearted

indifferent

wishy-washy

Is that how we respond to our Creator, our Sovereign God?

God’s only Son was sacrificed on the cross to save us from the sin-punishment that we all truly deserve.

How do we respond to that sacrifice and the saving grace of Christ’s resurrection from the cross?

Are we reflecting a “life transformed?”

Are we ready to stand up for our faith in a hostile world?

Which path do we choose?

Cold or hot, either way, a choice is made.

The deeds of the true believer will be “hot” or “cold”—that is, they will benefit the world in some way and reflect the spiritual passion of a life transformed. Lukewarm deeds, however—those done without joy, without love, and without the fire of the Spirit—do harm to the watching world. The lukewarm are those who claim to know God but live as though He doesn’t exist. They go to church and practice a form of religion, but their inner state is one of complacency. – gotquestions.org²

I believe this is something we should continually remind ourselves as we face the daily distractions that life (and the disturbing headlines) can bring.

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¹ Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

² Quotation from gotquestions.org, from “Why did Jesus speak so strongly against lukewarm faith? n.d., para. 5. Web. Accessed January 14, 2026. Retrieved from Jesus Lukewarm Faith