He spewed the water from his mouth. Disgusting!
He had recently come from his home in Colossae. There he regularly enjoyed cool, refreshing water from the spring. He had often taken it for granted.
I should have remembered, he thought picking up the cup he had dropped to the ground. I’m not home anymore.
The man was on his way from his home town to his brother’s house in Hierapolis. As it was a good day’s walk, he had decided to stop in Laodicea for a brief rest, a meal, and what he had hoped to be a refreshing drink. Laodicea had an aqueduct that brought water from a cool spring, he had heard. He had expected the same sweet water he enjoyed back home.
“So sorry, sir,” the merchant muttered. “The aqueduct has been recently clogged. Leaking everywhere.” He took back the cup. “It takes so long for the water to get here, it’s often lukewarm.”
Oh well, the man thought as he picked up his things to commence his journey. I’ll have to wait until I get to Hierapolis. He started down the road. There, at least, I’ll enjoy a soothing bath in the water from the hot spring there.
Would that you were either cold or hot!
So, because you are lukewarm,
and neither hot nor cold,
I will spit you out of my mouth.
(Rev 3:15–16)
About Scott Aniol
Scott Aniol is the founder and Executive Director of Religious Affections Ministries. He is director of doctoral worship studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in ministry, worship, hymnology, aesthetics, culture, and philosophy. He is the author of Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World, and By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, and speaks around the country in churches and conferences. He is an elder in his church in Fort Worth, TX where he resides with his wife and four children. Views posted here are his own and not necessarily those of his employer.
