By Larry Young
The Seventh Day Adventist Christian denomination for me is undeniably far in front of other Christian denominations when it comes to biblical doctrine and truth. Being raised in the Methodist church, critical elements of biblical doctrine and truth were either ignored or buried in language that ended up supporting some other pre-supposition that had little or nothing to do with truth. As SDA Christians, we are “called to be a peculiar people, which generally means belonging to God as a special possession, a treasured or chosen people. It doesn’t carry the modern connotation of being strange or odd” (from an AI summary). Do we see this peculiar type of behavior bristling within our own churches? Perhaps not at this moment.
Could it partly be that we have been buried in truth for so long that we have become complacent about it? Are we taking the awesome doctrines and truths revealed to us for granted? Do we “cherry pick” those truths we enjoy believing… and then ignore all the others that are “kill-joys”? It is apparent to me that our precious denominational doctrines and truths are being marginalized in the conduct of our daily lives, where Christians are neither actively serving God nor openly rejecting their faith, but rather existing in a state of spiritual apathy… but also at the most critical moment in earth’s closing history. In the book of Revelation we are warned about this as a church by Jesus: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3: 16)
We are being told we must become “hot”, so there needs to be a fundamental spiritual awakening in us both individually and as Jesus’ church. There are a host of triggers in life that can cause such an awakening… many of them sad or even tragic. However, I am grateful and humbled that God was able to awaken me in a positive way, while studying biology in college by professors who just thought they were teaching secular scientific facts.
If you are in a lukewarm condition and know that you might be in trouble, ask God to put it in your heart to become “hot”… right now! By faith in Jesus, He will transform your apathetic heart, and give you a loving heart of flesh. The truths and doctrines that you originally embraced as a Seventh Day-Adventist Christian will take on new and urgent meaning in your life. Completely reject any hatred you are harboring for anyone else, and a floodgate of lovingkindness will emerge that you had forgotten was there. We all make mistakes, but that’s not the point. Like EG White wrote, ‘it’s the set of the sails’ of where you are going that will determine your future, not all those events that the devil is always dredging up to try and discourage you and condemn you. You will no longer be “buried in truth”. Instead, you will see anew that all those truths are there to show you God’s ultimate plan for your future happiness… and that He is the one who will finish that work in you. Your part is to believe and trust Him enough to let Him do it within you. That’s the type of surrender that God needs from you, so that He can fill you to overflowing with His own character: Hot and “peculiar”.