I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth (Revelation 3:15-16).
These were the words of Jesus to the church people in the Turkish city of Laodicea. The city had no fresh water source. Water was either brought a long distance from the mountains or came from nearby hot springs. Either way, when the water reached the city, it was neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm and unappetizing.
Notice the Jesus did not hail the hot and condemn the cold. Growing up in church, I was taught that God wanted us to be “hot” for Him; meaning excited, loud, and “on fire.” That instruction both ignored and twisted Jesus’ actual words to the Laodiceans, whom He wanted to be either cold or hot.
On a cold day, who doesn’t want a hot cup of tea or chocolate to warm the bones? On a hot day, everyone thirsts for a long, tall glass of iced lemonade or Coke. There is never a time someone desires a room-temperature cup of stale water.
The Laodiceans were lukewarm, undesirable to Christ for any reason. They were religious, but were not refreshing to His taste. They thought they had everything necessary, except they’d kept Him out (Revelation 3:17, 20). They didn’t need Jesus because they had everything money could buy.
It’s this kind of self-made independence that is repulsive to the taste of Jesus. He called these people to recognize their attitude as sin and turn to Him. He reminded the apostles that without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). Those who don’t depend only and perpetually upon Him, He finds vomitrocious.
Where Living Begins 
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