Warm Me Up, Please!

Warm Me Up, Please!

My morning ritual is pretty well set.  I start the coffee, shower, grab the coffee and head for my “favorite corner of the couch”.   This is my time with God, before I face the day.  Did I mention the coffee? It is very much a part of this time.  When I am at home, I am very precise on how I have my coffee.  It is one third regular and two thirds decaf. (If made like this, I can enjoy more than one cup.)  It is lightly sweetened with a few drops of whichever flavored Stevia I am in the mood for at that time.  (English Toffee and Chocolate Raspberry are frequent choices.)

With all the care that I put into preparing my coffee, one would think I would drink it while it is hot.  But, alas, I often take the first few sips and then let the rest sit, while I ponder the scripture I am reading.  Then, when I reach over and take a drink, I am unpleasantly reminded of the passage in Revelation 3 in which Jesus tells the church at Laodicia they are neither hot nor cold and he will spit them out of His mouth. (I have yet to actually spit, but I certainly understand the concept.)  There has been a very good reason for my inattention to that cup of coffee.  Contemplating what God has for me is far more important than any beverage.  But none the less, the lack of attention has had a negative effect.

I then, often compound the problem by adding fresh, hot coffee to the cup that has already gone cold. If too much cold coffee remains, the result is a cup that is only a slightly warmer than before.  It is still a non-ideal, if not completely unpalatable, temperature.  When I am not careful, I find the only truly enjoyable coffee of the entire morning has been those first few sips.

Standing at the coffee pot one morning, poised to once again add some fresh, hot coffee to my now quite cold, half full cup, I saw my error and a spiritual parallel. Our walk with God, full of dreams and vision, can grow cold for many of the same reasons as my coffee.  A lukewarm spiritual condition and that now cold coffee also share similar solutions.

The first and foremost reason a relationship with God can lose vitality is simple inattention.  Time away from the heat source is all it takes to cool down a warm cup of coffee, or a passionate heart. There have been times in my life when I have not intentionally let my heart grow cold.  I’ve just allowed other things, many of them good things, to get in the way of true communication with God.  I have never stopped talking to him throughout the day, but I have been less consistent in planning that specific time alone with him. I have relied on the ‘throughout the day’ and, in those times, I tend to do more talking than listening. I need a focused time to listen to his voice.  We have this promise,   “I love those who love me, and those who seek me early and diligently shall find me.” (Proverbs 8:17)                                                                                   

The other reason my heart can grow cold is interruption.  Have you ever sat down to read the word only to experience a string of interruptions?  The phone rings, the dog needs to go out, you remember that dinner is still in the freezer, the kids cry out for help… the list can be endless.  Soon your allotted time is up and you wonder where it went. What I’ve learned to do about this is a two-step process to limit the distractions.  First, pre-plan your time.  Take care of urgent needs prior to your time with the Lord.  And second, some great advice I received, is to keep pen and paper nearby. When those “must do” items come to mind, jot them down.  Then, you are prepared to get to them when you return to your daily activities.

Rebellion will also cool a heart in a hurry.  It may not be blatant sin.  It may be an attitude you don’t want to relinquish.  Anger, unforgiveness and self pity can be notorious for this.  I can choose a cup of tea or juice over coffee and there are no lasting ill effects.  If we chose anything over God, even a bad attitude, it becomes an idol and leads to death.  “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18) Pour the sin out and refill with an obedient heart and time with God.

I have found three things to do when my coffee gets cold.  They also apply to my walk with the Lord.  When I keep these steps in mind, I find myself more content and enjoying both, my coffee and the life God has for me.

Instead of simply adding some hot to the cold, heat up the cold first.  The first time one of our guests asked my husband for a warm up of his coffee, David went to the microwave and literally warmed it up.   (He came from a southern family and drank very little coffee.)  Likewise I must make the effort to go to the source of my passion and intentionally reheat.   For your spiritual life, the source of heat is the fire of God.  Seek him.  The Word, prayer and worship are all great ways to access that fire.  Allow God to revive dreams and visions that you have let go cold.  Let him restore what you have lost and then add new vision and direction from here.

Sometimes the old has gotten stale and we may be trying to hold on to the past.  If you’ve ever tried to warm up yesterday’s coffee, you realize it no longer tastes or satisfies as only fresh can.  I have a tendency to try to hang on to something after God has determined that the time is finished for that stage of my life.  The result is triply bad.  First, you are no longer gifted or called to that task, so it no longer fulfills you as it once did.  (Cold or lukewarm coffee)  Second, you are missing out on the next great thing God has planned for you.  (Hot, fresh coffee)  And third, you are probably in the way of the person God had called to that endeavor.  That new person is now specifically equipped for the task. (Hot beverage of their choice)

In times like these, discard the old and start fresh.  Don’t try to reheat the old coffee, and don’t try to relive an old dream.  If a dream is to be resurrected, that will come from God.  Take your hands off.  Listen and look for the new thing you can set your hand to.  That fresh, steaming cup of coffee is better than any reheat. So is following the new direction of God.  It will be better than anything you can hold on to.  Let go, dive in and drink deep.

The final solution to my cold coffee problem is to get a cup warmer and use it.  I’ve had a warmer for years. It is simply a small, electric pad that sits beneath the cup.  I had been using it at work for the tea I drink later in the day.  I’ve now brought it home, but have yet to take it to my den.  Why?  I couldn’t tell you.   In order to not let our vision from God get cold, we need to continually keep it warm. We need to intentionally keep it with the heat source. This constant, intentional heat source comes from a constant, intentional communication with the one who loves us more than anything.  Don’t let your Bible sit on a shelf, unused like my coffee warmer.  Not letting the dream go cold is the best plan of all.  King David stated, “ O God, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is.” (Psalm 63:1)

So start today.  Drink deeply of the fresh, hot vision from God for your life.  Don’t let distractions get you off course.  Learn what needs to be let go of.   And determine to keep the vision and your relationship with God hot, fresh and delicious. 

“O taste and see that the Lord [our God] is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.”  (Psalm 34:8)