If it weren’t for the ministry of helping others through these difficult days, I’m not sure I would ever watch another news program or read anything about what is happening around the world. Why? Because 99% of it is bad news. Finding a web-site that gives good news is difficult. There are a few, but very few. I know people who are totally oblivious to world events. They tell me it’s ‘too depressing,’ or ‘consumes them with worry’, and they would rather stay uninformed. One phrase in my life purpose statement is to understand the times so I can give encouraging words to others. Yet, I admit I struggle to keep all the bad news from dragging me down and leaving me cynical—especially concerning the state of the Church.
The LORD keeps two verses in my mind. The first is Matthew 24:12. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. This verse always brings vivid images of my childhood. My family was poor. We always had food and clothing, but that was about as far as it went. One cheap entertainment my mom let me do was make candles. She had a few blocks of wax, which I melted and made candles—over and over and over. I’d melt the wax, pour it in a mold, and anxiously wait for it to harden. Wait is certainly the correct word. I’d be in the kitchen every few minutes touching it to see if it had hardened. This would continue until by mom reminded me, as she did every time, it would probably take all night, “wax hardens slowly.” The words grow cold in verse 12 is literally wax cold. Jesus is warning that our love won’t suddenly harden, but cool as slow as wax. In fact, it happens so slowly that we may not even notice.
Jesus also tells why this happens. It is lawlessness. The word here was a theological word and not just the lawlessness of society. Its primary emphasis is the lawlessness in the Church. It is false doctrine we see happening all around us in churches that completely violation God’s Word. Transgressions that once were confined to the sinful world are now fully acceptable in churches and denominations. Cynicism can slowly cause us to wax cold in our love.
The second verse comes from the parable of the sower. Jesus warns of several temptations that can cause our fruit to be choked out. Matthew records one of them along with its result that applies to this lesson. The worries of this age . . . choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful (13:23). Any gardener or farmer knows the danger of a morning glory vine. It’s a small vine that can almost remain unnoticed when it first starts especially on a stalk of corn. Slowly, it wraps itself and climbs toward the top. It has a beautiful flower. But before long it is choking the life out of the plant. You’ll end up with one those tiny cobs of corn that you find in salads. This is what the worry of this world will do to our spiritual life. We end up fruitless or with dwarfed fruit.
Twice Paul tells the Corinthians to examine themselves. So a man should examine himself (1Co 11:28). Examine yourselves (2Co 13:5). Every year I see vendors in Lowes taking inventory of their stock. Occasionally, we need to stop and to take inventory of our love and our fruit. We need to see if we may have become cynical or allowed the worries of this age to creep into our lives. Jesus warned the church at Ephesus, they had abandoned the love they had at first. He also tells them how to change this– repent, and do the works you did at first (Rev 2:5). Note that repent is not a scary theological term. It simply means to change direction.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Yes, this life can drag us all down. But remember, it’s only temporary. We have eternity to enjoy. Examine yourselves this week. Are you cynical or producing dwarfed fruit?— repent, and do the works you did at first .