Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Matthew 24:12.
What does it mean for love to grow cold? How is this a response to wickedness? Have you seen this happen around you? Have you personally experienced this in your own life?
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May 23, 2009 at 12:56 am
Yvette
I see this verse as people becoming more selfish, and not caring about the needs of others. But yes, this is increasing and will until the return of Christ. But also, the Love of the Lord will also increase. It is here where we stand our ground, and when we do so, we will not be shaken.
Blessings!
May 23, 2009 at 2:25 am
annaldavis
Yvette,
Thanks for your comment! I like how you said the love of the Lord will increase, with everything we need — all the love we need –there available for us.
May 24, 2009 at 2:55 pm
momofkings
I always saw this verse as the love of many of God’s people will grow cold, kind of like losing your first love for Him. But reading that Scripture again, I don’t know how wickedness would affect that.
I think as the wickedness gets darker, things that would once have shocked you are no big deal. You just don’t have the emotional resources to respond to things that you once did.
In my life, for instance, I no longer feel much more than a tinge of regret hearing about celebrity couples splitting up because I hear it so much. (Not that I put much time into following celebrities). I remember feeling much more sad, etc. when it happened years ago.
Make sense?
May 25, 2009 at 1:16 am
annaldavis
momofkings,
Like being desensitized? We think in those terms with things like cursing or violence, but it makes sense that it would work that way with love, too. We see love break down all around us, all the time.
May 26, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Larry Who
I struggle with loving people…even my wife. So, I’m always asking the Lord to help me love people the way He loves them.
May 29, 2009 at 1:24 pm
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June 7, 2009 at 5:58 am
flee the wrath
Hi Anna,
Good question, been thinking about it for a little while. I believe that Christ may have been alluding to the wickedness which comes by materialism and worship of self (humanism), which would mark the latter days.
Perhaps John worded it well when he said, if we love the things of the world, the love of the father is not in us.
I know myself that it is hard to love/serve both God and man, and self.
Most of my life was spent loving self and doing those things pleasing to self and accumulating great possessions to self. It’ s really only these last few years that God in his grace has shown me the futility in this.
I may have thought that I was a loving person, but in reality, this was not the fruit of my life.
No greater love has any man than this, that he should lay his life down for his friends.
Tim
June 16, 2009 at 11:50 am
annaldavis
Hi Tim –
You mentioned this verse in your comment “No greater love has any man than this, that he should lay his life down for his friends.” I have repeatedly heard this verse in the past week, the words jumping out at me as if by a divine highlighter.
We tend to think of this agape love, as service. Feed the poor, help the widows, etc. And certainly this is a valid and important interpretation and we should do those things because Jesus spiritually feeds and helps us. But I am learning that “laying down you life for your friends” also means standing for Truth and doing what He tells us to do (in love), regardless of how it may affect our friendships or their perception of us. Jesus went to the cross, even though it (for a time) dismayed his friends. Paul went to Jerusalem when called to (Acts 20), even though the Spirit told him the church in Ephesus would falter in his absence. The most important way to love is by doing the will of the Father.
Anna