It’s been so long! Wow! I’m so sorry for the long absence and I’m going to try to do better.

So, I want to share something a little serious with you… hope that’s okay. It’s been in my heart and I feel I should share it with you.

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“In the confusion, lying preachers will come forward and deceive a lot of people. For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in—nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes.”

Matthew 24:11-12 MSG

Another version says,

And many lying prophets will arise, deceiving multitudes and leading them away from the path of truth. There will be such an increase of the sin of lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold.

Matthew 24:11-12 TPT

What does it mean for love to grow cold? What’s cold love?

We were heading to a friend’s place. Along the way, a bus stopped wrongly, maybe to pick up passengers or allow them alight—I don’t know. But then he moved forward and I would have been okay (maybe if he had added sorry though) but then he had to yell at us to move. I was like… WHAT??

He was in the wrong.

Yet, he’s the one yelling?

Ha!

I glared at him o. The man is elderly and all but my goodness. My heart wasn’t at the right place at the moment. I wanted to alight the car and give him a piece of my mind. My husband who was driving just said I should forget it.

Hmmm… you know what came to my mind? Love going cold…

Imagine if my husband hadn’t spoken?

Imagine if Jesus left us alone and His Holy Spirit wasn’t with us — nudging, encouraging and stirring us away from such situations?

Honestly, just looking around us, not just about what’s going on in various countries, lawlessness is abounding. And it comes with this I-don’t-care attitude.

You ask yourself:

– Why do I have to care when everything is this bad?

– Why do I have to be nice when so many around me are so annoying and uncaring?

– Why do I have to be different from others when it doesn’t lead to anything positive?

– Why do I have to be Christ-like when all I get are insults?

And so you think:

– If I can’t beat them, I might as well join them.

– I’m going to return the insults.

– I won’t care about anybody else other than myself.

– I don’t care what anyone says, you hurt me and I’ll fight back.

Love Waxing Cold…

It’s part of the signs of the end times.

And this cold heart can happen to anyone. In fact, the Bible particularly mentioned it occurring amongst Christians.

The result of a cold love is Hatred—a complete dislike for the body of Christ and others.

How do we do a heart check to make our hearts align with God?

There’s a Scripture that talks about a heart of flesh. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 NIV

This heart of flesh is a new heart.

And a new heart needs a new mindset.

So, we need to keep renewing our minds so we don’t get contaminated with works of the flesh which jolts us back to a stony heart. (Romans 12:1-2)

Personal Love Check-List:

How often do I reflect on heaven/eternal life? Is it a distant thought? Or do I refresh my memory to remember this world is not my own and I’m just passing by?

Am I passionate about Him and spending time with Him?  Or am I neglecting His Word?

Do I feel intense anger and hatred for the brethren?

Do I follow the flesh and disregard the Spirit?

Do I still love others as God wants me to?

Do I crave the approval of man or God?

Do I make Him known to others?

Do I still love God?

Honestly, I’m asking myself these questions as well.

Beloved children, our love can’t be an abstract theory we only talk about, but a way of life demonstrated through our loving deeds. We know that the truth lives within us because we demonstrate love in action, which will reassure our hearts in his presence.

1 John 3:18-19 TPT

Love is a way of life.

Christianity is our way of life. It’s who we are. Love is what tells us apart. And so, if your love grows cold, there’s nothing that distinguishes you from unbelievers.

Remember the church of Ephesus? They lost sight of their First Love. They drifted from God. God wants us to keep our gaze on Him and keep fellowshiping with Him.

I’ve been so close to becoming a hard-hearted person. One disappointment or the other, having high expectations about someone only to have it fall short. But while researching for this write-up, God ministered to my heart. And I’m working on getting better.

Let’s press on in studying God’s Word and meditating on it.

Things might not get better around us, but it doesn’t mean our hearts need to follow that trend. Christ endured a lot of hardships, but His love didn’t grow cold. Let’s be merciful and compassionate. Stand firm until the end. Let God’s love grow in our hearts.

Quote by C.S Lewis: There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell.

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