Sincere love towards God and fellow beings will diminish in the last days, as Jesus spoke: “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.” As believers, we are to be among those who endue and overcome, keeping our love real and sincere.

We live in a world where the love of mammon (money) rules the heart. It is rampant in the Christian world.  People, who do know the Word of God and the importance of leading a selfless life of love, have fallen in this area. Many are not even aware that they are living in sin, in selfishness and greed. The reason is because they have silenced the Holy Spirit. For those without the Holy Spirit or those who have deafened themselves to the voice of the Spirit, their love will become colder and colder by the day. They live to satisfy their wants and it is evident in their lives. As Jesus spoke the so-called teachers of His day, they erred because they did not know the essence of the Scriptures or God's power. To live as those made alive in Christ and love God and others sincerely, the Word of God and His power must dwell richly in us.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—  having a form of godliness but denying its power.”  The apostle Paul mentions that as the end draws near there will be no warmth in the love that people have, rather it will only be the love of the self and the love of money. People’s lives will be characterised by a form of godliness, who do things in a religious way from self-love and for selfish ends. Their aim is to gain applause from men or to appease themselves.  It is easy to put on a form of godliness but that would only make one more deceitful and proud.

Do we see any of the above traits in our lives today? Are we taken in by too much of ourselves that we have not given Him the first love in our lives? How about our love for our brethren- has it become cold? God does not want any one of His children to perish but to overcome every sin in our life and endure till the end. These are the end times.  Repent sincerely and cry unto God for His divine power and love in your life!

1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.”  Sincere agape love will flow through us, only when we embrace the fact that God loves us unconditionally, no matter who or what we are today. It is when we understand and experience God’s love and care for us that we will triumphantly go through every situation in life and be able to love others the way God does. It is only when we experience the warmth of God’s love in our lives that we will be able to share the warmth of His love to others. Let us receive His love today which will enable us to love others too!

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To Act On: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” - Colossians 3:12-14