If you are a coffee drinker, you know that reaction when taking a sip of cooled coffee. You have to decide whether to force yourself to swallow, or spit lukewarm coffee back into the cup.

I once heard the eminent preacher Vance Havner say that when a waitress offers to warm up his coffee, he tells her No.

“Pour out this cup of coffee and then refill my cup with hot coffee. I don’t want Laodicean coffee.”

Any self-respecting server would oblige, but not every person would understand why Vance Havner said this.

In a message to a church in Charlotte, North Carolina where my husband and I were members umpteen years ago, the church where Billy Graham grew up, visiting preacher Vance Havner taught from the book of Revelation.

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”

Revelation 3:14–16, KJV

Ew. Spew.

Jesus stated that he would rather churches, (and by extension people themselves who embody the church), be either cold or hot. Jesus’ words describe hot as standing for convictions that do not change.

Roadkill and Increasing Irrelevance

Years later, another teacher explained how the middle of the road illustrates the dangers of being neither cold nor hot.

Picture the distance between opposite sides of an issue. In between lies the middle. As each side advances toward the other to argue, dispute or fight, both sides move closer to the middle of the road and further from positions held in the first place.

As the middle between the two opposing forces shifts, a new middle of the road gets drawn between their positions. Keep warring and the middle keeps moving until eventually one side or the other occupies territory once considered the middle of the road.

In Spring, the further south you drive on highways in Texas, you will see roadkill. Some dead animal lies splattered on the highway, struck while crossing the road. Eventually pushed by traffic to the side of the road, the carcass remains. Common among roadkill is the armadillo.

Splut!

In the middle of the road, words like Right and Wrong get redefined according to relativism in the culture. The middle of the road represents dangerous territory.

relativism––a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them

Mirriam-Webster

That’s how relativism works. Once a clear-cut issue or problem has shifted and neither side stays hot or cold, diluted lukewarm positions result and the middle of the road gets redefined. And as the middle changes, morality declines.

The more those whose arguments are based on biblical convictions move toward center to fight against those with arguments based on personal preferences, the further those with genuine conviction move away from original standards that formed the basis of conviction.

“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”

Alexander Hamilton

Redefining marriage serves as an example of how this shift toward concession occurs. When the battle moved from defining marriage between one man and one woman––the biblical and culturally time-honored definition––opponents gained more territory in the middle. In moving toward the middle to engage the opposition, those who argued a biological, ethical, and biblical meaning of marriage, lost previously held territory that made plain the difference between cold and hot, between preference and conviction.

Vance Havner helped me understand the importance of asking myself whether I will stand for biblical convictions despite attacks from those who oppose biblical teaching. Or do my beliefs simply reflect social and cultural preferences where I can simply concede territory in order to keep the peace?

Prevailing Preferences vs. Moral Absolutes

People who hold time-honored convictions about moral absolutes and unchanging biblical truth can remain steadfast, even when being attacked for their convictions. That’s what it takes to remain hot.

Conviction never changes. Conviction defines a settled belief––fixed and firm.

Much of what we tell ourselves we believe is preference.

People with convictions based on principles of Truth that never changes can remain hot only by maintaining a few fixed beliefs that are not open for debate.

The question for you and me is what beliefs, if any, do I hold as convictions and which beliefs fall in the category of preferences––subject to change? Preferences allow for accommodation, compromise, and making concessions because preferences are matters of taste or opinion.

Understanding the difference between convictions and preferences helps explain some of our most heated social and cultural battles. The battle lines and divisions among us have widened.

According to the words spoken in the book of Revelation, people with genuine conviction must base their convictions on fixed standards of Truth that never change. Truth that applies to all people in all times.

Standing firm with conviction forces the opposition to move toward the truth they fight against. Vance Havner emphasized that those who get cold enough may move toward the warmth of God’s Word. His Truth is marching on.

Eyes to See and Ears to Hear

In Revelation chapter 3, Jesus seeks to correct blind and shameless thinking. Preferences come across as “I’m okay, you’re okay.” I don’t need a thing. But Jesus says, lukewarm people are not okay.

The challenge believers face is to stand firm, holding to biblical convictions and avoid confrontation that moves cultural battles to the middle of the road. God will fight and defend His Word for His name’s sake.

Something to think about the next time you or I take a sip of lukewarm coffee or pass a dead armadillo on the side of the road.

[1] https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/dillo/