"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." [Rev 3:15-16]
When Peter encourages us regarding trials in our lives, He compares faith to gold. He says, by inspiration of The Spirit,
“…ye greatly rejoice [in your incorruptible inheritance], though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” [1 Pe 1:6-7]
The comparison of our faith to gold is not uncommon in the Bible. Job likewise says, “but He knoweth the way I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” [Job 23:10] As gold contains dross, undesirable material, which must be burnt out of the gold, so too our faith. Our faith is not pure, it contains dross; and The LORD, not content to let us stay the same and wanting very much for us to yield a more pure faith, tests us by fire that the dross might be burned away. “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but The LORD trieth the hearts.” [Prov 17:3] And so, as the furnace purges the gold of the undesirable material: that which is not valuable – so too through trials The LORD purges us of dross, whether that be sin, unbelief, or something that hinders our walk/faith. Let us take the analogy of gold, however, and look at it in a different light today.
Consider a golden ring. If you have ever worn a ring, you will notice that when taken off the finger, it becomes cold very quickly. The metal is not good at retaining warmth. In the same way, our faith is not good at retaining heat either. We are told in Romans that we ought to be “boiling in spirit.” [Rom 12:11] We are to be on fire for Jesus, burning with passion for our King. In order to keep the zeal we have for our Lord, we must abide in Him. Just as the golden ring must be on the finger for it to retain heat, so too we must be close to Christ. We must abide to Him in simple, pure love, even as that golden wedding band upon the finger symbolizes. If we drift away from Jesus, that heat will quickly fade. Therefore, we must endure in abiding in Him, devoting ourselves to His word. As it is written, “therefore we ought to exceedingly devote ourselves to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should drift away.” [Heb 2:1] It is Jesus’ desire that we be such in our walk. He says in Revelation, in our verse for today, “…I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
If the heat capacity of metal should show us anything, let it show us our great need to abide in Christ. As He said, “abide in me, and I in you…” [Jn 15:4] In order for us to be zealous and passionate for Jesus, we need to abide in Him constantly. So let us remain close to Him, for truly, as the metal is warmed by the finger, so too we shall be warmed by the heat and passion of Christ; as it says, “for the love of Christ constraineth us…” [2 Cor 5:14]