God created Adam and Eve to love Him with all their hearts and to produce a human race that would love one another. To remind us of our tragic loss of love, I call attention to how the Apostle Paul described our condition in these last days: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power….” (II Timothy 3:1-5)
Consider how the Apostle Paul called attention to the lamentable conditions of humanity as we come to the last seasons of the church age; notice his first three words: “But know this.” This should remind us of what a military officer says when he is about to lead his soldiers into battle: “Now hear this!” These were the code words for getting attention. Perhaps we should remember that the Apostle Paul is writing this with the knowledge that the wicked emperor Nero has already ordered his execution. No doubt he wrote this realizing that his life was about to end, and he is grateful that His redeemed soul is full of the love of God and he will spend eternity in heaven.
I hope we will all give serious thought to what the apostle means when he warns us that “in the last days perilous times will come.” I prefer to believe that Paul is referring to “the last days” as the time beginning with Jesus coming to earth to die on the cross in payment for our sins to the time when He will return in His Second Coming. I say this because Christians have been severely persecuted from the beginning of the church. Many prefer to believe that “the last days” in this passage describes only the time of abounding evils just before the Second Coming of Christ.
Perhaps it would be wise to consider the meaning of “perilous” as used in classic Greek to describe wild animals or the raging sea. Throughout Christian history, believers have been tormented—jailed, beaten, killed, starved, and denied many freedoms. Jesus warned His followers of their coming persecution. I am sure that He meant all Christians would experience “perilous times” to the very end of our days.
Even though there are millions of Christians on earth today, I would remind us that we cannot claim to be living in a Christian culture here in America. I fear that many professing Christians have not taken their stand for Christ and have compromised with the world. Notice that Paul ends his list of evils as “[Christians] having a form of godliness but denying its power.” I fear that too many American church members are losing their love for God by yielding to the spirit of the times. Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, a former pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, put it this way: “Either we live in a Christian culture that naturally provides a climate of acceptance and support, or we have accommodated ourselves to the values established by our non-Christian culture.” Then, Dr. Ogilvie went on to add: “I don’t find enough evidence to convince me that ours is a Christian culture. Our comfort and acceptance can only suggest to me that we have been tamed by the world around us and have acquiesced with the world’s values much more than we realize or dare admit.”
May God help us all to realize that every human being is born to love God! Nothing bothers and angers our evil enemy, the devil, like our love for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Satan is sneaky and sharp in his ability to distract us and rob us of our love for God. But Jesus speaks to all of us, saying: “. . . You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) He called this “the first and great commandment.” He went on to say in the verse 38: “And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
I feel the need to remind all of us who are serious about maintaining our love for God that our relationship with the indwelling Holy Spirit is the answer. We find this in Romans 5:5 that “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Too many believers do not pray and seek to be filled with the Spirit, and they are soon weak and empty. Those twelve apostles of Jesus Christ who were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost later needed to be refilled with the Spirit (Acts 4:31). Any believer who will pray daily in the power of the Spirit and rely on Him to help them obey will experience His outpoured power of love.
In closing, I hope our readers will take the time to read a powerful hymn entitled “The Love of God:”
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though’ stretched from sky to sky.
Refrain
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints' and angels' song!
Note: All scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints' and angels' song!
Note: All scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.
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