Are You a Thermometer or a Thermostat?

Dear Southport Congregational Church,

After worship on Sunday, I needed to make a quick run to Stop N’ Shop to get a few last-minute lunch items. While I drove, I heard an interesting question on the radio. The host asked: are you a thermometer or a thermostat? It was an intriguing question, and they immediately had my attention. The radio host then offered a lengthy explanation. Here’s the shorthand version: A thermometer tells you how warm or cold it is in a given environment while a thermostat tells the environment how warm or cold it should be. Some individuals live their life as a thermometer reacting and responding to the environment around them while other individuals live their life as a thermostat influencing their surrounding environment. Do you see the difference?

Today is Tuesday January 6. Welcome to a new day and a new year. With the coming of a new year there will undoubtedly be the question, “what’s your New Year’s resolution?” Maybe you already have one, maybe you haven’t even thought of one, or maybe you’re looking for one. If that’s the case, consider this:

I know plenty of people that live like a thermometer. They have reactions to everything. One day they are high and the other they are low. One day they are joyful and the other they are miserable. They are constantly changing depending on what environment they are placed in. On the other hand, I know few people who live like a thermostat. Those individuals who are secure in their identity and emotionally healthy regardless of their surroundings. Instead of yo-yoing back and forth between extremes they find a balanced place of peace.

We’re on solid theological ground to at least consider if this is one aspect of what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote these words in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians: 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Paul is speaking to Christians who are living like thermometers. A thermometer Christian is tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and traveling from one extreme to the next in the blink of an eye. A thermostat Christian will faithfully and consistently grow and mature into Christ who is our rock-solid Cornerstone.

As you enter the first few weeks of 2026, I’d encourage you to do some self-reflection. Consider those places where you are functioning more like a thermometer than a thermostat. Perhaps, in a quiet moment of prayer or study we might ask God for the discipline and patience to faithfully grow and mature into Christ.

Grace & Peace,
Rev. Dr. Mark Waterstone