Mike Pilavachi, the well-known British youth speaker and leader of Soul survivor, tweeted this last week: “Never be cool. Never try and be cool. Never worry what the cool people think. Head for the warm people. Life is warmth. You'll be cool when you're dead.” Well that is a relief!!"
I know why people might want to be "cool" - I suppose I do too really - but hey, is cool what God wants for His church? "Head for warm people" is really sound advice I think. Maybe being cool is great but warmth always wins hearts and influences people.
Part of my worries about coolness is that I remember too well the cold-hearted Christianity of the past. Too many sincere believers made the mistake of imagining that holiness had to be cold, scowling and judgemental. They were cooled right down to the extreme!
Jerry Bridges says this: "Godliness is never austere and cold. Such an idea comes from a false sense of legalistic morality erroneously called godliness. The person who spends time with God radiates his glory in a manner that is always warm and inviting, never cold and forbidding."✱
Should church be cool? I'll leave that to you to decide. But should Christians be warm? Yes - a thousand times yes. Sometimes I can be so project oriented, or task driven that I fail to spot the needs of those around me. I learned in African culture that they always had time to chat, time for friendship, for mutual support. Warm hearted people in a hot climate! Maybe it would be better to do the job just a little less perfectly but be warm and attentive to the people around us?
Come on - smile a bit!🤣😁 Give me warm Christians rather than cool church any day!
✱ Jerry Bridges, Holiness Day by Day (NavPress, colorado Springs, 2008) 11
