HSD: A Slow Poison

Come here. Come take a walk with me.

Are you familiar with the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears?

Yes? Well, here’s a refresher. (By the way, there are actually three versions of this old tale, so I’ll just recap the one I remember.)

In the story of Goldilocks, a girl wanders throughout the woods and finds a cozy home belonging to three bears. The bears have gone out for a time, so Goldilocks feels more than welcomed to make herself right at home. She is hungry and notices bowls of porridge sitting out on the table. She tastes the largest bowl belonging to the father bear, and realizes it is too hot, so she moves on. She tastes the medium sized bowl belonging to mother bear and moves on since it is too cold. She finally tastes the smallest bowl, and it is just right—neither hot nor cold. She eats it all up.

(Keep following. The Holy Spirit has a point to make.)

She is now tired from eating up her warm portion, so she looks for a chair. She tests each chair in the same way she tested the porridge and settles on the chair that was “just right.” However, she is still unsatisfied and feels even more tired, so she goes searching for a bed to go to sleep. In this same process of finding a bed that isn’t too hard nor too soft, she falls asleep in her bed of comfort not realizing danger is approaching as she is sleeping.

This is plenty. We will stop right here for a minute.

The Holy Spirit wants you to recognize something here.

When The Lord addressed the seven churches in the book of Revelations, He addressed the church in Pergamos for their compromising ways (Revelations 2:12-17) and the church of the Laodiceans for their commitment to lukewarmness (Revelations 3:14-22).

The church in Pergamos maintained their faith, but they let wicked behaviors and pagan practices of some members slide. In this case, many compromised by looking the other way despite knowing right from wrong. The Lord tells us that this is where Satan can be found—in one’s alignment with compromising—in one’s practice of doing what is right and doing what is wrong at the same time.

The church in Laodicea was guilty of lukewarmness. The Lord says this, “I know your works, that you are neither hot nor cold. 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.” Revelations 3:15

We know lukewarmness, then, is a spirit that is not of God.

 How did Goldilocks like her porridge? Warm. Her preference was always somewhere right in the middle of two extremes throughout the whole story and the quest to satiate this desire of comfort led her deeper and deeper into an unknowingly dangerous situation.

The story then says that once she ate up what was neither too hot nor too cold, she began to feel tired.

What’s more?  As she continued to find “the right balance” in accommodation of her comfort preference, she continued to lose sound judgment. She went from taking a nap in a chair just near the door she entered to going to sleep in a bear’s bed all the way up the stairs.

The Holy Spirit wants you to recognize something very important today.

Lukewarmness is hidden in your comforts.

Satisfying your comfort leads to compromise. Constant compromise of the Holy Spirit’s specific instructions is a slow poison leading to spiritual sleep. Just as Goldilocks began to feel sleepier and less perceptive the more she satisfied her need for comfort, this is the same way the enemy seduces the people of God toward spiritual sleep.

Let me tell you something…

If you are saved and you have confessed with your whole heart that Jesus Christ is your Lord & Savior, the enemy starts his attacks based on familiar interests and works his way up to comforts.

The Word tells us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James

Meaning, at first, the attacks come in the form of interests or desires that we are still working to overcome—that the Holy Spirit is still working out of us.

At first, one could be enticed with opportunities to go clubbing if he/she were ever into that. Smoke if that was someone else’s thing and etcetera.

These are pretty obvious, though, so we find ourselves losing interest in the obvious sins relatively easier the more we grow closer to Christ.

However, the enemy doesn’t up his ante by using more tactics that we’ve already overcome.

No.

He is smarter than that.

The enemy then begins to study us. To figure out what we still like and what we don’t like. He does this so that what? He can use the information he has gathered to entice us with the things we still enjoy—to draw us away according to our own lusts.

Now…

We’re no longer tempted with gossiping sessions or party invitations.

Nope.

Now, we are tempted to go to sleep before meditating on The Word because “we’ve had a really long day.”

Now, we are tempted to wrestle with the Holy Spirit about attending Bible Study because “our schedule is all over the place, but the Lord knows our hearts.”

Now, we put off what the Lord has been convicting us about concerning what we consume (both diet and through eyes/ears) because “God knows we’re trying.”

All of these compromising statements are normalized by the world and planted by Satan himself.

Compromise is disobedience and it feeds the spirit of lukewarmness.

Comfort can be idolized and can feed the temptation to compromise.

Don’t get me wrong, this does not mean the Lord doesn’t want us to be comfortable at all!

Of course this isn’t the case! He desires for us to live a life of peace and abundance! He desires for us to rest on His promises.

What I am warning us all about is a commitment to or prioritization of comfort and compromise.

I’m warning us all about idolizing comfort.

Jesus address to the Laodiceans’ church continues with this, “Because you say I am rich, I have become wealthy, and have need of nothing…” (Rev 2:17)

He’s saying because you say “I am comfortable” you have entered into a state of lukewarmness.

We should all be in constant pursuit of surrendering more of yourself daily and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s voice in what to do next concerning this initiative.

Do you want to know why Goldilocks was able to run out with her life by the end of this famous story?

Because of the presence of grace.

Let us not abuse grace to continue affording ourselves a false balance.

We are either committed to being on fire for God or you aren’t.

Understand this. Receive this. Share this.

And as always, in everything we do…

Let us Lead with Love.

Holy Spirit, I thank You for this Word today. Please let it meet the eyes of every person who needs to hear this so that they may be encouraged to move forward and lead others to you with Love. We love You, Lord, and we thank You. In Jesus’ Name to the Glory of the Father, we thank You. Amen.