We must always strive at keeping our love for God ablaze. Remember that a lack of love is one of the major indicators of the end-times. Let's look at Matthew 24:3 -"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world"?
Then He goes through a list of events, calamities, and other indicators that point to the times of the end. Let's read,"And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shallwax cold. But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved."(Mtt. 24:10-13)
This love that is referred to is the love of God that He has given each and every believer to grow in grace. It is His love operating in us that will cause us to endure to the end. But the first One to receive this God-kind of love should be God. In other words, we have got to renew our love with God. Wax cold simply means a reduction in temperature by evaporation; to chill; to become hard; marked by lack of warmth, zeal, or distant from passion or emotion; to become frigid. Ardor is a warmth or heat of emotions and feelings; extreme force or intensity; impassioned eagerness. We must stir up our flames of love for God. We must be zealous (active enthusiastic interest mounting to fervor); intense driving or overwhelming emotion displayed with vehement and overmastering emotions. Just from those definitions, we know that we must keep our pursuit white-hot. We can't let our love grow old or cold.
Remember, it's God's powerful love that we are depending on not our human love. Human love is inconsistent, undependable, and conditional. Again, Romans 5:5 says; "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us". Whose love do we have? God's love, right? And it isn't a little sprinkle, no, it is shed abroad (poured forth; a discharge; a spilling out or something that is dispersed in abundance.) And listen as God describes His love, The Lord appeared from of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you. (Jeremiah 31:3)
It is an everlasting love, that's what we have had shed abroad in our hearts. Everlasting is "time out of mind" eternity, always, continuance; lasting long, perpetual, and without end.So we need to love God without allowing time to be what rules our depth of love. We can't place God on our time schedule for meeting our needs, and if He doesn't make it on our time, then we love Him less. In our actions and in our passion, our love begins to grow faint or becomes weak. How? Well, for most of us we begin to back slide from our attentiveness, our worship, whether done, 'in assembling ourselves together' (which is going to church) or, in our private prayer times (which of course is our passionate conversation with the Lover of our souls). It may show up in the 'labor or the work' that we do for His Kingdom, we are not running as hard and fast as we once did, we drag about in our service to Him.
When once you led the procession in the House of God, now you take up the rear. "These things I (earnestly) remember and pour myself out within me: how I went slowly before the throng and led them in procession to the house of God (like a bandmaster before his band, timing the steps to the sound of music and the chant of song), with the voice of shouting and praise, a throng keeping festival." (Psalm 42:4) We will talk about this next week. Keeping our love ablaze!
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