So I've been thinking about this concept of being lukewarm...casual--and what that means.  What does it look like to be lukewarm?  I was thinking of an analogy of life as a resume.  Career people like gaining new skills to tack on to their resumes so that they can get better positions in life.  Many people approach Christianity in the same way.  It is just something they tack on to the resume of life to get a better position either in this life (i.e. to get in with friends who are "Christians" or to have a particular appearance) or in the next (they want to go to heaven, so they just say "I am a Christian").  But living the Christian life isn't about tacking something new onto the resume--it is about transforming the resume completely!  It is a career change--life is no longer about what seems fun or interesting, it is about doing what is right--according to Him.  When Christ came into my life, I was no longer of the world--I am in it, but I am an ambassador in it, and my true dwelling place is with Him.  So this land should be a foreign place to me and I am supposed to stand out as being different. 

If I call Christ my Savior and say that my identity is in Him, and yet, nothing (or very little) changes in my life, there is doubt that such a profession is true faith.  If I continue to participate in the same kinds of worldly acts without question then am I truly "Christ-like"?  When a person really desires to set their heart on Christ and make Him their life, there are inevitable changes--one will begin to question the types of entertainment they have subjected themselves to, the friends they have gleaned wisdom from or even developed close companionship with, attitudes they have learned (i.e., feminism, liberal thinking, etc.), the places they choose to go (would it be appropriate to see a holy person in these places?), and so on.  As the book of James says, "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17).       

So many of these changes that naturally occur with true faith are outlined in Scripture clearly.  Just glancing through my Bible and the titles of each section show me that there is Scripture about friendship, attitudes, alcohol, sexual sins, and much more!  So in all of this thinking I have been lead to one conviction--in order to avoid becoming "lukewarm" or "casual," I MUST be reading and memorizing Scripture.  God's word needs to come to mind with every situation.  This is the only way I can make sure that I am leaning on HIS opinions and attitudes instead of my own. 

"Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).