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In the 1984 blockbuster movie The Karate Kid, there is an interesting conversation that occurs between Mr. Miyagi, the karate teacher, and his student, Daniel. Mr. Miyagi asks Daniel if he is ready to begin his training, and Daniel replies, “I guess so.” Mr. Miyagi then presents Daniel with a powerful illustration. He says, “Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later get squish just like grape. Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate do yes or karate do no. You karate do guess so, squish just like grape. Understand?” The Christian walk is much the same way.

The Christian must make the decisive decision to follow Christ. Either you make the choice to be Christ’s disciple or you make the choice not to follow the Lord. But, if your decision to follow the Lord is “guess so,” you will get squished just like a grape. Jesus said in Revelation 3:16 that He would rather for you to be hot or cold, and if you are lukewarm, He will spew you out of his mouth. The most unsafe place for the Christian to be is to be at a place of “guess so.” The “guess so” Christian is easy pray for the enemy, develops slowly in Christ, and manifests little spiritual power.

The devil loves to target believers who are not walking with Christ. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” (1 Peter 5:8). Christians who are in a lukewarm state are not on guard against the enemy. And in some area of life, they will be devoured. They do not have the spiritual maturity to deal with the attacks of Satan.

The lukewarm Christian will be slow to develop spiritually. Our spiritual growth is determined by what we eat and by what we do. As with physical growth, diet and exercise are the key. The word of God is our spiritual food. And when we pray, we are exercising in the spirit. The lukewarm Christian spends little time in God’s word and often less time in prayer. This lack of exercise and poor diet retards the spiritual growth of the “guess so” Christian. The spiritually “retarded” Christian manifests very little spiritual power.

John 15:7 reads, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” The lukewarm Christian does not abide in the presence of God. And, God’s word does not abide within them because they do not expose themselves to it. The result is little or no spiritual power manifested in times of crisis. The “guess so” Christian cannot get a prayer through.

If you are a born again Christian, you need to make the decision to follow Christ. You have to be sincere about your spiritual life and make God’s word and prayer a priority. When the Lord asks you to follow Him, your answer must be “yes” and not “I guess so.”