Last Wednesday, I started to feel my nose was blowing out “hot” air when I was at work. My immediate reaction was “uh oh” – hope this is just a sign of tiredness and nothing more. Subsequent days, however, my physical condition continued to deteriorate and finally at last weekend, sinus congestion and coughing symptoms all came up. I knew it is definitely a “cold” that I contracted it during the week.

Every weekday morning, I have to drop off my kids to their school. Early in the morning when we got up, I always have a habit to remind them to put on more clothes because there is a big difference between their beds and living room, in terms of temperature. However, their response always likes that “yah, yah, yah….” attitude. Therefore, I have to raise my voice one more time in front of them and then they may yield to my demanded tone. I told them that it is for your own good (ha, ha, ha. See, I am like a nagging parent). Sometimes I even added one caution to them after my demand, “You will learn it when you become a parent!” Isn’t this ironic? We used to be in their shoes with the “stiff neck” attitude toward our parents too. Do we follow our parents? Probably not every time, right?

When we studied the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, we were constantly reminded by Moses that Israelites are stiff neck people and God wanted them to learn lessons in order to recognize that “He is the LORD”. In the New Testament, the author of the book of James reminded us that we should not merely listen to the word, and so deceive ourselves. He used a vivid picture to describe this behavior:

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  因為聽道而不行道的，就像人對著鏡子看自己本來的面目‧看見，走後，隨即忘了他的相貌如何‧(James 1:23-24)

Spiritual coldness is far more severe than physical coldness, my dear brothers and sisters.  “Are you cold?” which may mean a common greeting of your physical condition from someone who you are familiar with; it could also mean a serious question asked by our Lord.  We can’t let our spiritual altar grow cold because it is exactly the evil one wants – he uses every possible means to discourage us and to tempt us in order to put out our spiritual fire. Let’s watch over one another just like apostle Paul reminded us:

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 各 人 不 要 單 顧 自 己 的 事 ， 也 要 顧 別 人 的 事 。(Philippians 2:4)