Mat 24:12-13 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most
will grow cold,
but the one who stands firm to
the end will be saved. [Jesus]
Jhn 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you
love one another. [Jesus]
How are you doing at loving your people? Your people are those you relate with or with
whom you have any influence. God has
commanded you to love them. Jesus said
that His followers would be known by this love—it would be the crowning
characteristic of His disciples. He also
said that, as the ages wind down toward the end, the “love of most will grow
cold.” Because of our sinful nature, it
has always been hard for us to love each other; and Jesus says it will get
harder. “But the one who endures to the
end will be saved.” When we see people
hating and killing other people; when we see “wars and rumors of wars”
[Mt.24:6]; when we see rampant greed on Wall Street and political corruption,
we are tempted to feel hatred or fear—both of which are antithetical to love. When
we are daily exposed to people who are tired, feeling harassed and hopeless,
complaining about life—this challenges our ability to love. People who have been abused or neglected in
childhood, without Christ will not be loving adults. We see in this the truth
of Jesus’ statements about love growing colder as spiritual darkness increases.
We must be very pro-active about loving
our people. We must keep our love warm
and alive.
We do not love naturally.
If you carefully study children and adolescents, you will see what is
natural for us: selfishness, competitiveness,
resentment of authority, insensitivity to others, and desire for comfort,
pleasure, prestige and power. Most of
the good done by humans in their early years is done to impress others or to
receive human praise.* We are not critical of them because of this—we know it
is natural. But we also see clearly in
Jesus that it must be overcome—that we must evolve toward Christ’s unselfish
love. We desperately need His Holy
Spirit in order to overcome this basic selfishness in us. This is why prayer—regular communion with God—is
necessary in order for us to mature. It’s
helpful to ask ourselves frequently—or better to ask the Lord: How am I doing at loving my people? This way of being leads to joy, peace and
victory over all tribulation. Our only
confidence is in knowing that God knows our heart; and the core truth of our
heart is that we want to love people with His love. If we live or die in this endeavor, we are
the most blessed people on earth. Jesus
has encouraged us to “stand firm [in His love] to the end.”
Lord, please help me to never stop consciously, pro-actively loving
people with Your Love. Bless me Lord
that today I will be a manifestation of Your love for all in my pathway.
*We do see outstanding
acts of love in children and teens, but this is exceptional, which is what
makes it newsworthy.
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