Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 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.”
Matthew 24:4-8, 10-13 New International Version (NIV)
There are many prophecies in the Bible about what will happen before Christ returns. Jesus spoke these words concerning the condition of the world and the condition of the hearts of humankind. We witness the deceit. We hear the rumors. We see the war and devastation throughout the world. We may have even come across someone claiming to be the One whose second-coming we await. What we must hold close to our hearts and trust is Christ's instruction to stand firm in believing His Word. This is only the beginning. Jesus controls the end.
When people are deceived, they can become deceitful. Turning away from the faith in times like these is like jumping into a lake without knowing how to swim. We've got to have faith in God's love for us by loving Him back and loving each other. Hearts grow cold through hate and betrayal which is why loving each other is so important. We've heard it said that only love can conquer hate. This is truth.
Our fight is not with each other. There is a darkness that covers this world and Jesus gave His life to shine a light on it. When we walk in His Light, we are then given the ability to lovingly shine our lights too. Light gives warmth. His Light will surely warm things up, especially love growing cold.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 ESV
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