I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. . . . Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. – Revelations 3:15-20
Perhaps the most dangerous type of sin is the kind which we think does not need to be atoned for. The worst place to be is the place where we think things are “not that bad.”
The best state of existence is obviously passionately pursuing God, but perhaps the worst is not passionately running from God, even though this is supremely dangerous. I believe the worst place to be is passionless. Lukewarm Christianity, which is an oxymoron, ruins a life through comfort, apathy, and other soul candies which slowly rot our spiritual health away one lick at a time.
To be in the dull state of purgatorial living where we neither love nor fear God but merely seek to live a status quo life is like cooking a lobster by slowing increasing the temperature of the water. Starting slow and then upping the heat little by little, the lobster is killed without ever realizing it. That’s how a life of lukewarm Christianity can snatch a life of usefulness.
Rather than hearing the knock and letting Jesus in by repenting of sin through grace, a lukewarm Christian thinks she is okay because he is just a turn of the handle away. But if we die in the “safety” of our house rather than opening the door to fully commune with Jesus who is just outside, it has the same effect as if you died 1000 miles away.
At least when you know you are rebelling against God you know you are rebelling against God. Living a lukewarm Christianity (which is no Christianity at all) by dwelling in the grey areas of life is like dying to a disease you don’t know you have because its symptoms were so subtle. At least with a more painful disease you know you are sick. “Little sins” truly are dangerous.
The worst type of sin is the sin we think is not that bad. 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Hebrews 10:26 explains, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins . . . .”
This does not mean if we forget to confess a sin in our past it remains unforgiven. It means that if we know God, we will be regularly confessing sin as evidence that there is nothing in our lives above our love for Christ. If we are not regularly confessing sin and seeking God’s grace, it means we never really knew him (1 John 1:8).
We are all going to sin in this life. But let us not forsake the grace available to us by thinking any sin, big or small, is okay in the eyes of God. We need the blood of Jesus daily, and thank God he wants to give it to us daily. Lukewarm Christianity is so dangerous because it’s not Christianity. At least when you know you’re not a Christian you know you are not a Christian.