Gary Larson’s classic Far Side cartoon of the gifted young knucklehead trying to push through a door marked “Pull” is how I picture the theologians telling people they need to be more committed, more repentant, more…you fill in the blanks, to earn God’s love so that they can receive eternal life.

I was just reading a book written by one of these theological “geniuses.” Explaining his view of the so-called “lukewarm Christian” in Revelation 3, he claims to believe 100% in grace while maintaining that there  will not be any lukewarm Christians in heaven. He just thinks they should have some “fruit.”

Apart from the obvious possibility that this is a warning to churches rather than individual Christians, I wonder about his definition of “lukewarm.”

I bet I know.

Just a few degrees cooler than the “heat” of  his own personal commitment to the Lord Jesus.

I bet I know his definition of convincing fruit: About the same amount he has.

If it weren’t so tragic, it would be as funny as Larsen’s Far Side scene.

The tragedy of it all is that while he’s convinced himself that his lukewarmness is just above the lukewarmness the grace of God covers, thousands of sincere Christians are compelled to keep pushing through a door grace already pulled open the day they believed in Christ.