Half and Half
Growing up in New York, one of the most popular drinks was an Arizona. Whatever flavor people preferred — mine was either Mucho Mango or Watermelon. But today I want to talk about the Half and Half. Half iced tea, half lemonade. Basically the deli Arnold Palmer.
Because of all the sugar, the drink tastes good. It's sweet and refreshing. But you don't actually know which flavor is coming through more. One doesn't overpower the other. It just becomes one complete drink.
Now that's a pleasant example, because even though you can't tell which flavor is winning, you still end up with something that tastes good.
Scripture uses a similar picture — and it doesn't end nearly as well.
Neither hot nor cold
In Revelation 3:15–16, Jesus says: "I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! So because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!"
Notice He doesn't say "room temperature." He says lukewarm. And there's a description here worth looking deeper into.
This was addressed to the church in Laodicea — an area with some very interesting water pipes. They had no local springs, so they relied on pipes to bring water in from somewhere else. But those pipes had heavy mineral buildup, and by the time the water reached its final destination, it wasn't just lukewarm. It was mineral-heavy too.
So you don't only have water that tastes bad. You have water that, if you drink it, can make you sick enough to vomit.
That's why Jesus makes it clear the water gets spit out.
And we are the water. The half and half. Neither hot nor cold.
A double mind touches everything
In a recent Bible study, a very powerful verse came up. James 1:8: "He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
There's a lot in that. Because the verse doesn't say you're unstable in one area. It says all your ways. That double mind doesn't stay contained where it started — it slowly seeps into every part of your life. You can't decide what to do, and that indecision spreads.
During the Bible study, someone brought up comfort zones — that it's always easier to go back down the mountain than to keep climbing. The double-minded man keeps going up halfway, and somehow keeps ending up back at the bottom. You decide to start something and never see it through.
We have a great God in Jesus, who walked on water, healed the sick, made the blind see and the deaf hear, calmed storms, made the lame walk, and died for us on the cross. And still we can't decide whether to really believe or not.
Being double-minded hinders your faith, and even your belief that God can do anything for you at all.
What the pipes were actually doing
Go deeper into those Laodicean pipes. The water was coming from somewhere else — which means it was the constant combination over time, all along the length of those pipes, that made the water lukewarm by the time it arrived.
Now apply that to your life.
We constantly combine with things we know we shouldn't. And the longer that goes on, the more certain it is that you'll arrive at your final destination lukewarm. Going back and forth with sin, telling yourself, "I only do it once in a while." But the longer that once in a while continues, the more you're combining with something you shouldn't. Then you get to the end lukewarm — and spit out.
Maybe you need some new pipes. Maybe you need to stop mixing with the wrong things.
New pipes
You know yourself and the life you live. I can't type this out and tell you to stop doing this or that — but I can tell you that when you sit with Jesus, He will expose every part of you. Even the parts you thought were fine.
Leaving the life you used to live is hard. Temptation will come. Some people will try to pull you back, or shame you for starting to be different.
But reading this, a few things probably came to mind. A few things it's time to give up.
It's time to let that living water flow through new pipes. Not the old mineral-buildup pipes — the Jesus-cleaned, Jesus-purified, Jesus-transformed pipes.
Persevere to the top of the mountain and stop going back down. Get out of that comfort zone. Follow Jesus with your whole heart — and as you get closer to Him, you'll start giving up the world each and every day.
God bless.
To the ends of the earth,
Isaiah Abraham
