How Hot Are You?

In the world to be hot means to be cool. On a scale of 1 to 10 to be hot would mean your a 10. Some requirements to attain this could mean that you weigh the right amount and have the right look. To be hot you have to be flawless or close to it. If your a woman you need the right face, lips, boobs, butt, legs, name, car, boyfriend or husband.
If your a man you might need a six pack stomach, good hair, teeth, nice arms, a cool car or motorcycle maybe even a truck. You have to be mysterious, open, friendly, stand offish, tough, tender, available and aloof.
To be “hot” in our society is a lot of work because it depends on the person your asking as to what the requirements of being hot are.
For God being hot takes on a whole different meaning. For instance He says if you want to be first (hot) you must be the very last not just last but very last. You have to be a servant of all not just the ones you like. Jesus tells us a requirement of being hot is to be ready to cut off your hand if it causes you to sin. It's better to be maimed with one hand than have 2 hands and go into hell. Of course He's not saying to literally cut off a limb but if you need to cut something out of your life that doesn't honor God you need to do it.
To be hot you may have to change your friends or the places you go. You may have to stop dating because you can't do it without having sex outside of marriage. You may have to listen to different music if the music you hear now makes you angry. If you have trouble with drinking you should cut off going to bars. The worlds standards are very different than God's.
I had to go to court the other day and the Lord truly did the “he who wants to be first shall be last” thing. The courtroom wasn't full but it had enough people in it to last most of the day and when was my case called? You got it, dead last.
Now before the judge heard me and my opposing party he heard all these other cases first and they were all pretty guilty people that didn't have a leg to stand on in their defense. So when my case was brought up my opposing party didn't seem so bad compared to all the cases before him so the judge went easy on him. In this case the defendant sounded like a hero because of what he was being compared to. The problem is he should not have been compared to people who were doing worse things than he was, he should have been compared to people who do the right thing. The standard bar was set low instead of raising it up to where it belonged.
So in our world if we gauge ourselves with people who do “worse” things than us we can look better or hotter in this case. The problem is God does not use the gauge of the world. He tells us in James 3:17 Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.”
God is not interested in us being hot in the world standard but being hot in His. I want to make sure you understand me, I'm not talking about works to get saved I'm talking about the lifestyle we are called to move forward to after we are saved. Our guidelines have to change from being compared to the world to being compared to the WORD!
I did not get what I thought was fair in my court hearing because as I said the person was being compared to the defendants before him.
What's on your list of hot and how does it compare to the Bible? Where are you on the list? Are you a one, a two , a nine? God wants you to be a TEN and you can do it with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Did you know what David said to God in Psalm 17? He said that God could probe his heart and examine it and He would find nothing that would convict him. Those are pretty bold words! He's telling the real Judge to cross examine him and see that's he's innocent. You know why? David said he resolved that his mouth would not sin. He decided to cut off anything that caused him to sin. He decided he would be a 10.
How would you fare in a court room with God as your judge? Could you say there will be no guilt in my case? These are the tough questions the Holy Spirit is asking all of us.
The good news is when we mess up we have the attorney named the Holy Spirit to speak on our behalf and because of the Love of God we have Jesus to allow forgiveness when we mess up. Peter said something to Jesus one day and Jesus responded with "get behind me Satan" that had to be a pretty tough thing for Peter to hear. Jesus didn't fire Peter and he went on to do great things BUT he went on corrected.
If your eye causes you to sin pluck it out. If you know there are things you shouldn't watch don't watch them. If you can't date and stay pure, stay home. If you can't drive without rage, don't drive, If you can't tell the truth when sharing a story, don't share. Decide not to sin before you do it.
Remember that game you played as a kid where you hide something and the other kids have to look for it and when they get close you say warm, warmer, and when they get real close you say HOT.
If they are moving away from what you hid you say cool, cooler, cold and when they are far away you say freezing! To win you had to get real hot. Same theory just use the Bible as the prize your searching for.
One thing to remember, God does not do lukewarm.
Revelation 3:15 "I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit.”

People will tell you God's talking to the church and their right, we are the church. Just being lukewarm makes Him sick. Have you ever seen someone do something really bad and you say “you make me sick”? Sometimes our actions can make us feel sick to our stomach. I know in my live when I really mess up intentionally or not I feel sick about it, especially if it hurts another person.
You can decide to cut off anything in your life that will make you cold. It comes down to this question, what do I value or want more than to obey God? We can candy coat it anyway we want but every selfish decision we make that does not line up with what God says is saying to God, I want this more than you God.
There's a guy in Mark 10 looking for a loop hole to follow Jesus. He boldly tells Jesus he has followed all the commandments but he happens to be rich so Jesus says (Gena translation) If you wanna be really hot and hang with me give away all your money. Actually the Bible says Jesus looked at him and loved him. I love that, Jesus was letting him know what was required but He also let him know He loved him. There are no loop holes we are either deciding to be hot or cold.
To be hot in God's eyes you would follow Romans 12:11(New International Version)
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”
Now that would be someone I think is hot. Jesus said He would know His children by their fruit or how hot they are. How hot are you?