Hunger for God. The Real God. The God that you so many times hold back so that you can live your life more comfortably in sin. I say in sin, although you may not see it that way. It's easy to see your life as "pretty good". As a Christian, it's easy to compare your life to worldly people. You say, "Hey I go to church. I pay my tithes. I don't drink. I don't beat my kids, and I come home after work every night." You even compare yourself to other Christians and rate yourself higher in your walk with God, though no one should do so. These comparisons are dangerous and need to be viewed as though they were stealing your most sacred treasures. They cause and further implement you in your walk with God to slip into a level of existence that only barely gets you by.
No hunger for God! Not aching to be consumed by Holy Fire. You're greedy and selfish. You want the most out of a life with God for the least amount of effort. You allow yourself to be satisfied with the bare minimum. What causes this? You need to thirst for the MOST you can possibly handle of God. Do you remember that hunger? When God first found you, broken, contrite and ready for a new life? Where did that fire go? God holds up his end of the deal, is faithful, blesses you MUCH more than you need, and you soak it all in, making sure that you're the best looking, most stylish person at church. You're far too cool for God. Lukewarm that is.
Revelations says in 3:15-16, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." To vomit is to eject forcefully, violently even, but certainly with the motive of getting the filth far away. This means that God would prefer you in either of those states than where you are, and He prefers it with a passion. It's easy to see why He would want you to be hot. But cold? Well, at least cold is honest. With cold there is no disguise, no concealment of truth, no pretense.
I'd much prefer that to insincerity and hypocrisy. Someone who is cold is more stable, and has better character than the lukewarm. It is easier for a cold person to become hot than for a lukewarm person. Saul, as a murderous, Christian hater became Paul, writing 13 books of the New Testament. Judas, taught by The Son of God for years, was a thief and a fraud. Saul was cold, but Judas was lukewarm.
If you're lukewarm, don't stay there. If you realized the gravity of the situation you'd know that you should actually panic. It is that serious. The trouble is, once you're lukewarm, it's so easy to stay there. The enemy lusts that you would stay in that putrid state. You're no one for him to be concerned with. You can't be used by God for anything. Satan views you as dead, and he's almost right. Almost. See, I've been lukewarm at points in my life. I know of the constant toil that comes with it. I tell you the truth, you must be humble before God and desperately want change to be changed, just like with true repentance. But oh how quickly God smites that, igniting you, instantly propelling you to hot. He wants it more than you do in your most longing moment of desire. He would have to in order to spew you away from Him.
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