Lukewarm Looked Good on Me… Until It Didn’t

Happy New Year. 2026. 🎉

Three years walking with the Lord for REAL!  Just daily dying to self and choosing Him again and again. The journey?

Yeah… don’t get me started.

Honestly? It feels like yesterday. I still laugh thinking about it because the change is so wild and beyond me; it sometimes feels unreal. And yet—I’m still journeying. Still learning. Still being refined.

For a long time, I’d describe myself as the church of Laodicea—the lukewarm church.

Let me pause here for some important context before we go deeper. In the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses seven churches (Revelation 2–3). These weren’t just physical locations on a map. They represented spiritual states of believers.

A quick but crucial reminder:

The church is a person first, not a building.

Scripture tells us that the Church is the Bride of Christ—notice the intimacy, the individuality, the relationship. So when Jesus addresses the churches, He’s addressing hearts, lives, and spiritual postures.

With that in mind—back to my story.

What Lukewarm Actually Looks Like

What’s interesting is that the church in Laodicea wasn’t rebuked for the obvious sins we might expect.

They weren’t called out for scandal or immorality. They were rebuked for being lukewarm. Just comfortable being in-between.

And in my opinion, lukewarmness is one of the enemy’s most effective strategies to keep believers in bondage. He uses  “comfortable compromise”.

Let me use my own life to paint the picture. This is just a snapshot—I could honestly write a whole book on lukewarmness in the body of Christ.

By the world’s standards, I wasn’t a “crazy sinner.” My body count was very low compared to many people in my generation, and honestly, that felt like an accomplishment. Many women around me didn’t have that testimony, so I thought I was doing pretty well.

I wasn’t a “hoe” according to the world’s standards.

But here’s the truth: I was still sinning.

Even though my body count wasn’t high, I was still fornicating. And whether someone’s body count is 100 or mine was lower—fornication  is fornication according to the Word of God. I wasn’t aligned, even if I looked morally impressive compared to others by the worldly standards.

The enemy is clever—he gets us comparing sins.

“At least I’m not that bad.”

It’s a lie he sells quietly, and it’s one of the most dangerous places to live. Because our standard was never other people.

Our standard is the Word of God.

Acceptable to the World, Contaminating to the Soul

Another example—clubs and environments I won’t fully list (because… my mum might read this 😂).

Even though I wasn’t out every weekend, some of the places I went to were contaminating my soul. Lust-filled music. Drunken atmospheres. Worldly lifestyles.

• Did it affect me all the time? No.

• Did it destroy me immediately? No.

• But it left a mark.

• It opened doors.

And slowly—subtly—it became harder to truly commune with God. On the outside, my lifestyle looked acceptable. Even “good”.

But the things I was indulging in quietly made intimacy with God difficult.

Finally,  let’s talk about money for a second—because whew, that was a huge distraction that kept me lukewarm . I genuinely thought I must be doing something right because of all the blessings.

But here’s a hard truth I had to learn:

Money is not an indicator of God’s presence.

If wealth is your only metric for spiritual success, you’re already off.

Even unbelievers make money. Even corrupt systems prosper. So no—wealth alone can’t be the measure of spiritual success.

THE TRUTH

A lukewarm believer still:

• Goes to church

• Attends Bible study

• Tithes consistently

• Prays

• Gives to the poor

But still:

• Lives in fornication

• Masturbates

• Keeps secret sins

• Compromises holiness

• Is governed more by culture than Scripture

In my opinion, the most dangerous sinners aren’t the obvious ones.

• Not the murderer.

• Not the prostitute.

• Not the ones everyone agrees need help.

It’s the moderate sinner—the one who thinks, “I’m doing some things right, so I must be okay.”

They obey parts of the Bible, but not all of it. They pick and choose when obedience feels convenient—

I’ll love my neighbor… but I’ll still fornicate. You get the point.

God doesn’t want partial surrender.

It’s all or nothing.

The enemy is content with you confessing God with your lips while your heart is distracted by sin, compromise, and worldly desires. He understands that this is not the worship God requires, so he comes with the tactic of compromise.

After reading the Bible multiple times from beginning to end—and I say this humbly, not to brag, but to show this comes from a well-informed place by the grace of God—if I had to summarize the attributes of God that are fundamentally important for walking intimately with Him, I would say:

Love. Mercy. Grace. Holiness. Righteousness.

These themes are highlighted throughout every book of the Bible.

For this blog, we’ll focus on mercy, holiness, and righteousness. Love and grace deserve a whole book—and this blog wouldn’t do it justice.

God Is Merciful

God is truly merciful. Just look at the children of Israel—generation after generation, for hundreds of years, He gave them chance after chance. When dealing with them, God always led with mercy first.

Scripture reminds us that mercy isn’t just something God does—it’s who He is:

“For His anger is but for a moment,

His mercy is for life.”

— Psalm 30:5

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.”

— Psalm 136:1

God’s first instinct is not punishment—it’s mercy. He gives time for true repentance.

But mercy does not cancel the rest of who God is. There is a flip side we can’t ignore.

Holiness and Righteousness: The Other Side of the Coin

God is holy.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

— Isaiah 6:3

This is the primary way angels and elders worship Him—by declaring His holiness. Because He is holy, He gives laws to keep us holy. Not to restrict us, but to reflect His holiness… His image.

Jesus didn’t die so we could freestyle life.

He died so we could be conformed to His image.

My friend—holiness is His image.

Righteousness: Mercy Does Not Cancel Consequences

God is also righteous which means he is a just Judge.

Even Israel—after immense mercy—faced consequences.

They were taken into 70 years of captivity (Jeremiah 25:11).

And yet—even there—God promised restoration (Jeremiah 29:10).

Mercy and judgment coexist. That’s a deeper topic for another day.

A lack of understanding of mercy, holiness, and righteousness produces an imbalanced gospel. If we don’t understand this balance, we end up with:

• Hyper-grace says: “Sin freely, just ask forgiveness later.”

That’s not grace—that’s abuse.

• Holiness without love becomes religious performance—like the Pharisees—focused on the outside while the heart remains untouched.

Both are distortions.

When these biblical truths aren’t taught together, lukewarm Christianity is the outcome. Balance is important, but the definition of these truthis must be rooted in Scripture —not cultural interpretations.

Final Encouragement

My advice: read the Bible from beginning to end every year.

• Not just your favorite book.

• Not just the comforting verses.

You cannot say you know God while only reading one section of His Word and while ignoring the rest of His Word. Each book reveals a different mystery of God. As you grow in breadth, you will grow in depth.

As you read, the Holy Spirit will give wisdom—and you’ll understand why God showed mercy in one moment and judgment in another.

I’ll leave you with this:

“Be holy, for I am holy.”

You cannot live this life without a moral code.

The only question is—who defines it?

It’s either:

• The Word of God

• Or the world .

There is no neutral ground.

May we be guided by His mercy, His holiness, and His righteousness.

Music time. 🎶

Me and My Jesus by Noel Mio — honestly, this is my life motto.