In Love with the Lord

Let’s turn over to Revelation 3: “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.”* (Revelation 3:14-15)

When the Lord began to open up His will to Mary and show her what He had for her—what her life was going to be like—there was a hotness in her soul for the will of God.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord!

“Lord, though it costs me suffering and pain, I want what You have for me!” Oh, that’s a love, isn’t it? There’s heat in that love! There’s a warmth in it. Then there are those who could care less what God wants. There’s a coldness there.

And then we’ve got some other folks, don’t we? We have people whose love for God is not hot. They cringe at the cross. They draw back from the trials. They shrink, and yet, it’s not that they don’t love the Lord at all—they’re afraid. They can’t bring themselves to say, “Lord, I want to serve You even if it costs me a great deal.” They’re lukewarm. Not cold, not hot, but lukewarm. Staying enough true to God to keep from entirely dying in the soul, but not living with that “amen” in their heart and the “yes” to God that is so vital for Him to bless us and work through us like He wants to do.

The Lord knew that Mary would react to this thing the way that she did. When He sent Gabriel down there to talk to her, He knew the temperature of her love for Him in her heart. She wanted to serve the Lord; she wanted to please Him. She wanted her life to count for God. And when He opened up His will to her, she staggered for a moment; she didn’t know what to think; she was troubled; but when she began to realize that this was what God was calling her to do, there was in her a ready answer. She said from the very depths of her heart, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

Here is heat. Here is hotness. Here is what’s necessary for you and me to please God and be used of Him. Do you love the Lord? Do you love Him hotly today—or have you cooled off in your experience to where you’re lukewarm? Do you want God’s blessing or do you want to do what you want to do? How much are you stirred by the Lord’s love for you?

Many say, “Lord, I am willing to serve You as long as it’s comfortable.” “Lord, I am willing to do it just as long as I get to have lots of things to enjoy.”

What if God has other plans for you? How hot is your love for the Lord? Are you interested? Does it mean something to you, what God has for you? Do you hunger to know what the Lord has for you?

Behold the handmaid of the Lord. “I’ve placed myself at God’s disposal. I am not setting out to design or do anything in life on my own. I am setting out to do just what the Lord wants me to do.” God’s handmaid, God’s servant; that’s what I want.

This makes all the difference in the world. And when the Lord looks at us and weighs our affections for Him (and He knows who really loves Him and who doesn’t)—when He does that, it’s according to what He said to these folks here: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.”* (Revelation 3:15)

Do you get the message? God would that we’re hot, but if we won’t be hot, He’d rather have us cold, than to be in between. Many people don’t think this. They have the idea that the Lord ought to be thankful for what He gets; but, no, God is interested in us being either hot or cold. He wants us to go all the way or none at all. Lukewarmness brings a terrible reproach. God can’t count on you. God can count on the folks that are hot in their love for Him, whatever He tells them to do, they’ll do it. And, strangely enough, God can count on the people that are cold: He can count on them not to do it. But what is the Lord going to do with people that are lukewarm? He can’t count on them to be saints. He can’t count on them to be examples. He can’t count on them to even take some ridicule for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He can’t count on them to be devoted to Him because they’re of a mixed mind. They’re looking out for their own interest sometimes, and for God’s interests sometimes too. It’s in and out, all the time. He can never be sure that they’re with Him.

“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.”* (Revelation 3:15-16) Now this is a solemn scripture to think about, isn’t it? When I get down in my experience to where my love begins to cool off toward the Lord, and I get into this state where sometimes I love Him, to a degree, and other times I don’t. When I get to that state in my mind and my heart, then the Lord begins to become very displeased with me. He seeks to stir us.

We have a story of a barren tree with which the gardener was working, and the master came and began to look at it and said, “Why should we let this tree stand? Why cumbereth it the ground? It’s here inside the the vineyard, but it’s not bearing any fruit.” Then the gardener said, “Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it.”* (Luke 13:8) Let’s see if we can stir the life in this tree, till somehow it begins to bear fruit. Let’s see if you will live for God, or if you will not. Now if you won’t, then after awhile the Lord will take care of this. He’ll get rid of you in your lukewarmness. How does He do that? He’ll allow something to come on you that will take you away. He’ll spue you out. You’ll be carried off by something. It’s dangerous to be lukewarm. It’s dangerous to be anything less than deeply in love with the Lord.

Mary was hot in her soul. She wanted what God wanted for her. I think it would be fair to say that Joseph was hot. When the Lord began to show him in his heart, what was involved in this matter, and he saw the truth of it, he, too, embraced the will of God. No lukewarmness in these folks, was there? There was something there that glorified God.

Is your life glorifying the Lord? Are you sending out a picture that shows Jesus to people? It’s quite possible to sit right in the same congregation with others that are hot in their experience, and to cool off on your own and grow lukewarm.

In Second Chronicles 25, and starting in verse 1, it says, “Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.”* (2 Chronicles 25:1-2) He went through the motions pretty well. “The Lord says we’re not supposed to have any idols around here, and we’ve been careful not to have any idols.” But the things that lead to idolatry and the certain loves and the lack of diligence and love for God and His ways—well, those remained around, but he was real careful not to have any idols. His heart was not perfect.

When you’ve been raised the way that you young people have been raised, it’s easy to become gospel-hardened—there’s devotions every morning, you’re encouraged in every way to live right and do right. To pick up the habit of acting like a holy person is not difficult at all—you’ve been well trained. But there’s one thing that no training can put in one’s heart, and that is love for God, and the temperature of that love. Whether you’re going to be hot and fervent in your soul is a determination you make between you and God. You’ll be a child of God because you serve Him with all your heart and He accepts your service. There’s no other way.

Can you say with Mary, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord”?