{"id":315,"date":"2024-02-07T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=315&2024"},"modified":"2024-02-05T17:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T00:01:05","slug":"curing-cold-love-matthew-24-1-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/curing-cold-love-matthew-24-1-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Curing Cold Love: Matthew 24:1-14"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 24:1-14 (NASB)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\" style=\"display: none;\"><p><sup>1<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. <sup>2<\/sup>\u00a0And He said to them, <span class=\"red-letter\">&#8220;Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.&#8221;<\/span> <\/p><p><sup>3<\/sup>\u00a0As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, &#8220;Tell us, when will these things happen, and what <em>will be<\/em> the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?&#8221; <\/p><p><sup>4<\/sup>\u00a0And Jesus answered and said to them, <span class=\"red-letter\">&#8220;See to it that no one misleads you.<\/span> <sup>5<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">For many will come in My name, saying, &#8216;I am the Christ,&#8217; and will mislead many.<\/span> <sup>6<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for <em>those things<\/em> must take place, but <em>that<\/em> is not yet the end.<\/span> <sup>7<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.<\/span> <sup>8<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">But all these things are <em>merely<\/em> the beginning of birth pangs.<\/span> <\/p><p><sup>9<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">&#8220;Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.<\/span> <sup>10<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.<\/span> <sup>11<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.<\/span> <sup>12<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">Because lawlessness is increased, most people&#8217;s love will grow cold.<\/span> <sup>13<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.<\/span> <sup>14<\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"red-letter\">This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.<\/span><\/p><p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=matthew 24:1-14&amp;version=NASB\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 24:1-14<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>When reading Jesus\u2019 life from the four gospels, I am often fascinated at the details that one writer includes that the others don\u2019t include. Sometimes it is a detail that is changed, while in other cases, it is a new detail that the others simply didn\u2019t share.<\/p>\r\n<p>In Matthew\u2019s version of this teaching, he shares a verse that is unique to his gospel message, and it stands out to me because I think it is relevant for our point in history: \u201c<strong>Because lawlessness is increased, most people\u2019s love will grow cold.<\/strong>\u201d <em>(v. 12)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>Both Mark and Luke include all the surrounding verses in their teaching, but only Matthew gives us this one little detail \u2013 and it is a detail that I find fascinating.<\/p>\r\n<p>First off, this is in a prophecy portion of Jesus\u2019 teaching. Jesus is looking forward into a future time. It is possible the time He was pointing to has already happened, or it might be the time period we are in the middle of, or it could even be a time period that still is in the future time for us as well. However, what made this verse jump off the page was not wondering when this would happen. Instead, I was fascinated at the implications.<\/p>\r\n<p>In this verse, we find two different (and supposedly unrelated) ideas: law and love. Jesus connects the two by saying that the lack of law in one\u2019s life and\/or in society will have an effect on one\u2019s love.<\/p>\r\n<p>This is opposite to the allure of \u201cforbidden love\u201d that we see throughout society and culture. We have the Romeos and the Juliets choosing each other over the social norms present and we conclude that true love can exist outside of the area of law when both partners consent and when no one gets hurt.<\/p>\r\n<p>But Jesus, in this verse, pushes back. He says it is only through obedience that we can experience true love. What is it about obedience (the opposite of lawlessness) that might be so important?<\/p>\r\n<p>When I ask myself the question, only one thing comes to mind: humility. In order to obey someone or some rule, one must humble himself\/herself and view themselves as less than the person\/idea they are obeying. In contrast, viewing oneself as being above the law is about as prideful of an attitude as one can get.<\/p>\r\n<p>Pride, which means a focus on oneself, destroys relationships, and it is rampant in cultures where people think that laws are important \u2013 <em>but only for other people<\/em>. In places where people think that their common sense or situation warrants an exception to obedience, this is when a culture shifts from being lawful (or law-minded) and towards lawlessness. And when people have this attitude, their focus on self erodes their ability to truly love other like God loves others.<\/p>\r\n<p>When our love grows cold, our hearts harden, and it makes it hard for anyone (including God) to reach in. It seems backwards to think about, but the only way to soften a hard heart is for the person holding that heart to choose to move towards God. By moving towards God, He can soften your hard heart, or give you a heart transplant.<\/p>\r\n<p>Why do people choose to move towards God \u2013 especially when they are completely self-focused? It is only after they choose to realize and admit that their lives are empty of meaning and purpose. Stuff doesn\u2019t bring lasting satisfaction. Disobedience can define someone\u2019s life, but it is a shallow definition. When people think about their legacy, what their life is worth to others after they have died, then there is an opening for God to point them in a new direction \u2013 which in all cases is towards Him.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Disobedience hardens our hearts. When we choose to obey Jesus and move closer to Him, only then is He able to melt our hard hearts, which allow us to fully experience true God-like love for Him and others. God is able to write the most amazing legacy imaginable for our lives when we choose to follow Him.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--315\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '315');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When reading Jesus\u2019 life from the four gospels, I am often fascinated at the details that one writer includes that the others don\u2019t include. Sometimes it is a detail that is changed, while in other cases, it is a new detail that the others simply didn\u2019t share. In Matthew\u2019s version of this teaching, he shares [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Curing Cold Love: Matthew 24:1-14 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/curing-cold-love-matthew-24-1-14\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Curing Cold Love: Matthew 24:1-14 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When reading Jesus\u2019 life from the four gospels, I am often fascinated at the details that one writer includes that the others don\u2019t include. 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