Hello, and welcome to Faith is Hope,
I’m Dave.
I love my new car! I just love my new house! Don’t you love that new iPhone 14? We love this, we love that, but when is the last time you heard someone say “I love God”? Or “I Love Jesus Christ”. How about I love the gift of salvation through the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for all of us on that cross? The love of God has grown cold.
Jesus predicted that the love of many would grow cold as part of His answer to the disciples’ question, “What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?” In Matthew 24, Jesus describes the end of the age that will precede His second coming. He says that there will be false Christ, wars and strife, and natural disasters.
Jesus also warned of the persecution of believers, some of whom would prove to be false disciples who would turn on one another. “And,” Jesus said, “because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold”. Whether it is because of the deluding influence of the false teachers or the persecution or the fear of death, the zeal of many false professors will diminish. Their love toward God and toward the church will “grow cold.” True Christians, even those whose faith is weak, will persevere to the end. Theirs is the true love, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it cannot fail. True love cannot become cold because it is sustained by Christ who is able to keep us from falling.
For those without the Spirit, however, what love they do have will become colder and colder in the last days. Paul expands this idea in 2 Timothy 3:1–4 when he describes the last days. The love those people have is not a warm, living love for God and His truth and His people. Rather, it is the love of self and the love of money. Paul describes those whose love for God, Christ, and the saints is only in pretense, not in reality. They do all they do in a religious way from self-love and to selfish ends. Their aim is to gain glory and applause from men or to use religion to gain something for themselves. They do nothing for the glory of God, the honor of Christ, or the good of others.
How can we be sure that the love we have for Christ will never grow cold? We begin by examining ourselves and being sure we are truly in the faith. If we truly belong to Christ, we can be confident that we possess the love from the Spirit that never grows cold. Then we should make every effort to increase our love: “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9–11).
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) Love never ends.
Now, look at the world, this country, our cities, our families, and our very own lives. Are we patient and kind to others? Are we envious of what others have or do? Do we boast? Are we arrogant and rude? Do we insist on getting our way? Don’t be irritable or resentful towards others. And don’t be happy about doing what you know is wrong.
The world, this country, and many of the people around us have allowed their love for God to grow cold. They’re afraid to be passionate about their faith in God because they know that the world, the government, friends, and family will attack them. There’s a line in a song by Arron Tippin, “you’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything.” Well, news flash; if you don’t stand for God, you’re falling for Satan.
We cannot allow ourselves, our voices, our faith, and our beliefs to be silenced. We have allowed this country, our government, the media, and schools to kick God out of our country. Look around. Look at what’s filled that place where God lived in our country and our lives. It sure as hell isn’t love. But that’s what the world wants. It doesn’t want us to love the Lord thy God with all our hearts, mind, body, and soul. The world doesn’t want us to love others as we love ourselves, to care for or about others. The world, and our government wants division, anger, and hate for each other and ourselves. It doesn’t want us to be one race, the human race. One body, the body of Christ.
The world and the government want war. They want us at war with each other and at war with the world. Well in war you have three sides. The attackers, the defenders, and the ones caught in the middle. But this war. This war that’s coming. There will be no “caught in the middle”. You’re either on the side of God. Or you’re on the side of Satan.
It’s time to choose where you’re going to stand.
Hey, I’m Dave – Join me next time when I talk about “A World War or A War on the World”. And until then, I’ll see you at the Rest Area.
