Dangers Surrounding Love, Part 2
David W Palmer
Love is powerful, eternal, and vital. That’s why we are looking at the Holy Spirit’s warnings about love—its misuse and neglect. To understand this critical issue, we are looking at 7 important “do not” statements from Scripture. We looked at 3 of them yesterday; today, we focus solely on number 4, as it is of eternal significance.
4. Don’t Let Your Love Grow Cold
(Matthew 24:12–13 NKJV) “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. {13} But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
This is a rather sobering prophecy given by our Lord Jesus. What’s more, it applies to the days in which we live; therefore, it is vitally important to you and me. Jesus warns that in the last days the “love of many will grow cold”! The NIV translates it as the “love of most will grow cold.” He continues by saying that in the “end,” only those who overcome this pitfall will be “saved.” So this speaks to our eternal destiny—whether or not we will enjoy eternity with him or end in hell.
Love is expressed in relationships; so this warning shows us that things will go wrong in many relationships—between members of the body of Christ, as well as between believers and God. Already we are seeing numerous people, even devout people and good Christians, getting into strife with their brothers and sisters. Love is the greatest, and love is the commandment; therefore, we ought to heed this warning and not allow anything to prevent our love from burning hot. We need to decide that we will allow nothing to destroy or obstruct our relationships with one another or with God.
Jesus also warns that the reason for so much love growing cold is that “lawlessness (wickedness) will abound.” Be warned; do not allow lawlessness or anyone else’s wickedness to interfere with your love for others (even if they act in a lawless or wicked way towards you). Endure whatever it takes to maintain love; keep love as your highest priority. Remember that in this very context Jesus said, “He who endures to the end shall be saved.”
(Proverbs 13:10 NLT) “Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.”
This proverb speaks for itself: “pride leads to conflict.” Therefore, to stay out of conflict and strife, which in turn leads to cold love, we will need to humble ourselves. If you are aware of a broken, strained, or hurt relationship with a brother or sister in Christ, always take the initiative of making the first humble move towards reconciliation. Don’t wait for the other person to do it; keeping your love hot is too important. Take Jesus’s “advice” in the following passages and be “wise”:
(Matthew 5:23–24 DKJV) “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, {24} leave your gift there before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come back and offer your gift.”
Here, Jesus is speaking of the case where you have damaged the relationship. However, in the following passage, it is the other person who has sinned against you. In both cases, he tells you to take the initiative to go to the other person first—in humility and love. If that doesn’t reconcile the relationship, Jesus has a very specific course of action to follow next; we should adhere to it exactly if we want to keep our love burning hot, and not have lingering issues of disunity hovering around us. They only fester into resentment, bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness, and very cold love.
(Matthew 18:15–17 DKJV) “If your brother (or sister) sins against you, go and point out his fault between you and him alone. If he listens, you have gained your brother. {16} But if he will not listen to you, take with you one or two others, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word (rhema) may be established. {17} If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; if he even refuses to listen to the church, let him be to you just like a Gentile or a tax collector.”
Today, I encourage you to humbly ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of any relationships in your life that are strained, under stress, bruised, or broken. First, ask yourself if your relationship with God is what it should be. If not, quickly humble yourself, and rush to the throne of grace for mercy. Dig any issues out of your heart that come between you and God: confess and renounce them, seek and receive forgiveness for them; and express hot love to God through thanksgiving, praise, worship, and adoration.
If the Holy Spirit reminds you of any breakdown in relationship between you and other believers—no matter how insignificant it seems—deal with it immediately. Maybe you just need to correct your heart attitude towards them or to forgive them. But maybe it’s a matter over which Jesus says you need to go to them personally. If that’s the case, don’t muddy the waters; get clearly from the Holy Spirit the exact issue—with pinpoint accuracy—go to the person in humility and love, and do exactly—I repeat exactly—as Jesus says in the passages above. Don’t vary from his instructions in even the slightest way. Just calmly say what the Holy Spirit gives you—all of what he says and no more—then listen for the other person’s response. If you do this Jesus’s way, you will get a Jesus result—an outcome of reconciliation, forgiveness, love, peace, and unity. This in turn, should leave you feeling full of joy, and overflowing with love for God, his church, and for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
P.S. I’m praying for you as I write—that God would enable you to overcome anything that would be a threat to you maintaining hot, fervent love.
