In a recent sermon, our pastor asked a pointed question. He asked, “Are we thermometers or thermostats?” In other words, are we reflecting the environment around us or are we influencing it? Are simply matching the temperature of the world around us? Or, are we attempting to set the temperature?

I liked this analogy because it continues to work as you extend it. If you want to maintain the temperature of something without working very hard, you simply store it in an insulated container. Think of something like a Thermos to keep coffee warm. But, insulation implies isolation. The substance cannot interact with the outside system. If we only connect within the church, it’s easier to stay warm, but it’s almost impossible to affect the world.

Also, if something warm is left uninsulated on the kitchen counter, it will cool. It has actually achieved equilibrium with the room around it, but since the room has so much more air, that point of equilibrium is very close to the original room temperature. There is, effectively, no effect. If we attempt to provide warmth to the world on our own, we will find ourselves looking no different fairly quickly.

So, if you want something to stay warm and not be equalized to the room around it, it needs a source of energy to continue providing warmth.

So, we are intended to be the source of warmth and light. We cannot do it alone or we will match the temperature of the room around us after a short time. Only with Jesus as our power source can we maintain our higher temperature and slowly begin to raise the temperature of the room (or world) around us.

Jesus asked specifically for us to live this way:

“My prayer is not that you take them [His disciples and, by extension, us] out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” John 17:15-18

He asked that God not remove us from this situation, but that He protect us. He wanted us to remain in the world, but to be set apart. He wanted His people to be different from everyone else. He wanted us to be standing firm in the darkness providing the light and warmth that the world does not.

He later praises the church a Pergamum for doing just that:

“I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.” Revelation 2:13

He praises them for standing up and being different in a dark place. They were working to be thermostats.

Now, as anyone who has tried to heat a big room with a small heater knows, it takes time. Do not give up.

Don’t allow yourself to simply reflect the world around you like a thermometer. Let yourself be used by Christ to be a thermostat. Be part of what changes the world.