"laodicean"

When 13-year-old Kavya Shivashankar became the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion yesterday, she did so by writing on her palm a word that is more familiar to readers of the New Testament than it may be to others: "laodicean." The word references a passage from the Book of Revelation, a letter from the Heavenly Christ to the young Christian congregation in the city of Laodicea located in modern day Turkey. [Rev. 3:14-22] The church, says the Lord, is neither hot nor cold, and because it is lukewarm it will be spit out. So "laodicean" has come to mean lukewarm, not fully committed.

That Bible passage comes from long ago, but it describes a situation that's pretty contemporary. It's possible to become so comfortable in our faith that the sizzle is gone. Christ once also said, 'If the salt has lost its saltness, it's good for nothing but is thrown away.' Disciples are to be 'salt and light,' not because of who we are, but as a reflection and evidence of the One we follow. There was nothing lukewarm about Jesus. And when we are, it's not surprising that others aren't motivated to care about the gospel we want to share.