Monday, July 23, 2007
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I shave the old fashioned way - hot water, shaving cream, and a razor. I guess that makes me a "real man," huh? Well, the other day I was shaving in a hotel and I realized I had run the hot water too hot. It's one thing to soften your beard; it's another thing to cook your face. So I ran just a little cold water into the sink. Now that was amazing! Suddenly, the water was not hot enough! See, I underestimated how quickly the cold can cool off the hot.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "What Cold Does to Hot."
This tendency for what's cold to cool off what's hot is more than just a physical phenomenon; it's the reason for many a spiritual disaster. Someone who was really hot spiritually, cooled off because they got too close to someone who was spiritually cold, or at least cooler than they were.
Now, that's one reason God wrote us what He did in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 6 beginning in verse 14. God says, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." He is referring to the way farmers of that day put a wooden yoke over two cows or two oxen to get them working together. The Lord goes on to ask, "For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? ... What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God."
"God has said, 'I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord." Is God saying that those who belong to Jesus should have no contact with those who don't? No, we can't be His salt in the world if we don't get out of the salt shaker. We can't be His light in the darkness if we have no contact with the darkness.
What God is warning against here - actually commanding against - is any kind of bonded relationship with someone who is not in His re-born family. That certainly would refer to a believer marrying an unbeliever. It can also be any serious romantic relationship. It could be a business partnership, even an intimate friendship. Those are danger zones for a child of God. In your core values, you're just heading two different directions!
And don't underestimate how quickly cold can cool off hot. I've seen that happen spiritually so many times over the years. A Christian guy or girl does some "evangelistic dating" - they go out with an unbeliever, hoping they can bring that person closer to Christ. For every one time that has happened, there must be ten times the Christian has ended up farther from Christ. And how many women who are married to a man who doesn't know Christ would testify to the lifelong turmoil of being torn between two loves - their Savior and their husband?
But it can work the same way in business or with a friend you spend a lot of time with. The tendency is going to be for you to start cooling off, compromising, and cutting corners spiritually to get along with that person. Honestly, can you see that happening in your life somewhere? The deeper in you get, the harder it's going to be to get out. So now is the least painful time you'll ever have to do the right thing; the thing that will guard your most important relationship. That is with the person who loved you enough to die for you; the person who is your eternal future - that's Jesus. If you used to be a lot warmer in your love for Jesus, could it be that you're just too close to what's cold?