Stan had been busy talking. His half-filled cup of coffee had turned cold. Ricky came by with a fresh cup of hot coffee.
“Thanks,” Stan said to Ricky. “Thanks for watching out for me!”
“You’re welcome,” Ricky replied as he hurried away.
“You see the spiritual significance of that?” Stan asked.
“What spiritual significance?” I asked. “He just brought you a fresh cup of hot coffee.”
“At least two things,” Stan replied.
“If the first instance,” he continued, “this is just like what Jesus said to the church in Laodicea in the Book of Revelation.”
“How’s that?” I asked.
“Lukewarm,” Stan replied. “If Ricky had just filled my half-cup of cold coffee with hot, the whole thing would have been just lukewarm.”
Continuing, he added, “In the Book of Revelation, Jesus said he would spit out the church in Laodicea because it was only lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.”
“Spit out,” I said. “That’s pretty descriptive of how Jesus views lukewarm Christians.”
“A real warning,” Stan replied. “Be hot! Be on fire!”
Stan then added, “A second point of the fresh cup of coffee is that Ricky beat me to the punch. I was just getting ready to ask him to empty the cup of the cold so it could be filled with the hot.”
“To me,” he continued, “being emptied so I can be filled is exactly what God wants and has for me.”
“Being emptied to be filled?” I replied. “In what way?”
“In order for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit and all He has for me through His fruit,” Stan said, “I have to choose to be emptied of everything that can and does get in His way.”
‘Such as what?” I asked.
“Mainly self,” Stan replied. “I have to choose to get me and all of my self-focus out of the way so the Holy Spirit can fill me, and keep on filling me, with all that He has available.”
“So,” I asked, “if you’re not emptied like that, the Holy Spirit won’t fill you?”
“It’s not so much ‘Won’t’,” Stan replied. “It’s more ‘Can’t’!”
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So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Revelation 3:16.
And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts of the Apostles 13:52.
. . . be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . . . Acts of the Apostles 2:4.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; . . . . Galatians 5:22, 23.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in me to help, guide, and counsel me in my faith walk with you. I confess that too often I do not empty myself of all that keeps me from being filled to overflowing with what you have for me. Please, Father, help me in following your lead so that I truly empty myself of that which is in the way of your filling. Please fill me and keep on filling me with what you have. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
01Think on this: What does it mean for a person to be described as a “lukewarm” Christian? Where are you on that temperature scale? Is being filled with self a part of the natural human condition? Why or why not? Do you agree that people must be emptied of self before they can be filled with what God has for them? Why or why not? If you do agree with that, what does that kind of emptying and filling look like? How are you doing with that? How would you like to be doing? If you think a change is needed, do you know how that can happen?
Waiting for the Train 