“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

These are God’s words to the church in Laodicea recorded in Revelation 3:15–16.

It might be tempting to think that they don’t apply to us (where is Laodicea, anyway?) but actually this passage is loaded with truth about how we should be living out the Christian faith.

Let’s dissect the word picture God paints here.

Imagine a mouthful of room-temperature water for a moment. Blech. Now think of ice-cold water on a hot day. Yum! What about a steaming cup of hot tea on a snowy afternoon? Now you’re talking! But lukewarm water? There’s nothing thrilling about that.

But that’s exactly how God describes the people in the Laodicean church—like lukewarm water. Sure, they went to church. They even did some good stuff for God, but they had no passion. They didn’t stand out. They loved business as usual. Clearly, God does not.

The church in Laodicea reminds me of some of the girls I interviewed for my new book My Name Is Erin: One Girl’s Plan For Radical Faith.

These girls were a lot like you. They were great girls, growing up in big cities and small towns. They were Christian girls. Many of them were involved in their church youth groups. They wear Christian T-shirts; they listen to Christian music. But to be honest, most of the time their lives look just like everyone else’s.

These girls had a sideline mentality about doing big things with their faith. They read their Bibles and went to church, but that didn’t result in radical change.

So many girls I know have settled for lukewarm living. They read the Bible, but they don’t tie their lives to it. They figure they will do big things for God “someday” but for now, they’re wrapped up in the small stuff.

I get it.

I wrestle with my own tendency to want to just coast, to live like a cup of room-temperature water instead of being on fire for God. Sigh.

But if God’s response to so-so, humdrum, average faith is so strong He wants to spit up, I guess we should get serious about having the kind of radical, on fire, dramatically different faith that the Bible really calls us to.

We’re going to be looking at radical faith all week on this blog. My hope is that by the end of the week you’ll have a better idea of what radical faith looks like and the tools to live it out.

So what’s your spiritual temperature right now? Are you hot—fired up and living a radical faith? Are you cold—burned out and living a faith that needs refueled? Or are you lukewarm—simply coasting through life lacking passion or excitement for the life God has called you to?

Leave me a comment below to tell me where you’re at. I will choose one of you at random at the end of this week to win the complete set of my four My Name Is Erin books.