(Mat 24:12) "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Global warming. Everybody’s talking about it. It’s the biggest environmental issue of the day. We are worried by the foreseen effects. Glaciers receding. Sea levels rising. Extreme weather patterns. Floods. Droughts. Hurricanes. Impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. There are debates on how to reverse this curse. Buy green. Carpool. Purchase a hybrid car. Cut the lights. Go Solar. Recycle. But with all the talk these days about global warming the Bible actually predicts another trend . . . global cooling!
The disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age. Jesus went on to talk about false prophets, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution, and betrayal (Mat 24:3-11). Then He went on to say that because lawlessness will abound, the love of many would grow cold. In other words, there will be global cooling.
Now we know this global cooling lies in the atmosphere of the human heart. In the last days there will be a great apostasy, a falling away from the faith (2 Thes 2:3; 2 Tim 3:1-5). People will be lovers of self and everything will go. There will be violence like in the days of Noah (Gen 6:5-12) and immorality as in the days of Lot (Gen 19). All this will affect men’s hearts toward each other. People just won’t care. They’ll be heartless. Cold as ice. And Tin man won’t want to go to Oz.
There are already signs of global cooling everywhere. People not reaching out. Steeds of greed. Me. Self. “That’s my parking place!” U2 is only the name of a band. Broken families. Lawsuits. Bitterness and hatred. The Golden Rule . . . is that the name of that ice cream place?
How do we reverse this trend before the whole human race sinks into a deep freeze? Truly we need the “Son” of God in each man’s heart. That will start thawing people out so they will start having a heart again. I guess you could say it’s the good global warming that we hope is on the way. The fire’s got to fall. Then there will be hope for us all! (Acts 2:1-4)
Why don’t you and I begin today turning this whole pattern around? Let’s ask the Lord to defrost our emotions so we can get love in motion. I think the key is the following:
(Eph 4:31-32) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
Watch your heart and give a heart. May our love, forgiveness, and our acts of kindness be like a flamethrower to the hardest of hearts. Then maybe we can all get together and work on problems like global warming!
Louie