Spit.

He’s free as the breeze,
He’s always at ease.
He lives in the jungle
And hangs by his knees,
As he swings through trees
Without a trapeze,
In his BVD’s.

Do you remember this wild and wacky Ray Stevens classic?  Guitarzan is a silly song about Tarzan, his wife and a gorilla who likes to have a little nip and sing his heart out.  But for me, this song conjures up an even funnier memory.

It was my parents’ 25th-anniversary party.  During the “skit” part of the celebration (we have a fun family), three of us re-enacted this very song.  It was not much of a professional production and an open bar was likely the only thing saving us from rotten tomatoes. 

The highlight of the show was my brother in a dress.  This, notably, is not as uncommon as you may think.  He was a tall, lanky drink of water, and the dress barely covered his rump.

As planned during our grand performance, “Jane” took a swig from the little brown jug.  My brother, parched from singing his heart out, eagerly sucked back a substantial amount of liquid.  But instead of a cool refreshing drink, he was shocked to discover some sort of bootleg firewater scorching its way down his throat.

As quickly as he guzzled it down, he spewed it right back out showering the first row of spectators.

This hilarious scene (perhaps less entertaining to him) came to mind this week, over thirty years later as I grabbed a coffee and took a swig. 

Now, I love piping hot coffee.  I also love iced coffee.  But I think you will agree that anywhere in between just isn’t satisfying at all.

In Revelation, God described the church people as lukewarm.  They were getting along just fine in life and forgot they needed God at all.   But instead of rich and successful, He told them they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  He was about to spew them out of His mouth!  Yikes!

The thought of God wanting to spit me out of His mouth is terrifying. 

So, let’s take a little look at ourselves.  Are you self-reliant?  Have you forgotten how desperately you need God?  Have you lost touch with Him in the busyness of life?  Or would you describe yourself as “On Fire” for Jesus?

I’m not talking about your collection of “I heart Jesus” t-shirts or “Fueled by the Spirit” coffee mugs.  I’m thinking about what people are actually seeing in us.  As Christ-followers, we’re different than the rest of the world.  We are children of the Light.

So, here’s the question.  Would the people who run into you, your coworkers, cashiers, cars who cut you off, would those people see you as different than the next Tom, Dick or Harry? 

We want everyone to see evidence of the Spirit living in us.  We want God to be glorified by the things we do and say.

Let me tell you, I am far from good at this. Lord, help me.

Listen, sister our responses, our compassion, how we cope, how we love, all point to Jesus.  This isn’t a show or a set of rules we need to follow.  This is the automatic outpouring of Jesus in our lives.  The running over of God’s love.  It can’t be held back but bubbles onto everyone around us.

And if we don’t see evidence of this, maybe we need to plug in.  Recharge.  Spend more time with the source of our hope.  The closer we are with our heavenly Father, reading his Word, listening to Him, the more we will look like Him.

I’ll take bubbling over spewing any day.

♥ Tess

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23