Matthew 24:12New American Standard Bible (NASB)
12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
I hear more and more of sadness and pain.
A man leaves his son in the hot car for eight hours after googling “how long will it take for animal to die in hot car”. Meanwhile he’s sexting a teenage girl.
A young couple break into an elderly mans home and one beats him while the other tries to open the safe.
An older man sexually assaults his girlfriends 20 year old daughter, who is “severely mentally disabled”.
Can I stop now? Are you getting the point?
There is increased lawlessness because people either don’t worry that they’ll get caught or they don’t care. Maybe they think they deserve whatever it is they are trying to get as they break the law. In the above cases that would be 1)freedom from parenthood 2) money to buy drugs 3)the control over a woman, and sex
Why do we feel we deserve anything good? Jeremiah says”The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Who can know it? We don’t seem to understand or know WHY people do these horrible things, but I propose it is simple, the heart is wicked, the heart is deceitful and lies to us, it is unreliable as a measure for what is good or for what is wrong.
How many people do you know who’ve had marriages break up or nearly destroyed because of infidelity? Even after 40 some years a marriage can fall apart for that reason. And if you ask the offending party they may say “I felt I deserved it.” or “My spouse wasn’t giving me the attention I deserved, so no wonder I went after this person who gave me attention.” or “Yes, I cheated and now I want to be with him/her and I don’t care or worry about how it will affect the kids, this is what I want.” Do you see the pattern? I I I , what I want, what I deserve, what I wasn’t getting. And same goes for the crimes mentioned above. They weren’t thinking of their victims, they were only thinking of themselves. Selfish. What does the Bible say about selfishness. Let’s see. Here’s what we aught to be doing:
Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
But when we don’t obey this:
Galatians 5:19-20
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
And here’s an example of what that looks like:
James 3:14-16
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
AHH you see that? This wicked behavior, this jealousy and selfish ambition is not from God, it is from demons. So how can you battle this? How can you arm yourself against such things? For starters you need to seek the face of God, He is standing right there waiting for you to call to Him. Trust that He died for your sins when He came down as a man Christ Jesus, believe that death could not hold Him and He literally, physically rose from death on the third day, and surrender your life to Him. Oh what a freeing feeling it is. When we do this we allow our sins to fall on Him, and accept that His death paid for them all. You see our sins, even one little sin, is enough to keep us from the eternal presence of a Holy God. You may think that’s not fair, but it is HIS planet, and we are HIS creation and these are HIS standards.
Romans 6:5-7New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
So while we may still sin after we have surrendered our lives to Jesus, our sins past present and future are covered by His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus then continues to stand in the gap, to “vouch” for us in modern terms.
Romans 8:33-34New American Standard Bible (NASB)
33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
So you see, once you have agreed that you have sin, acknowledged that even your small sin is enough to keep you from eternity with God, trusted Him for your salvation, then He will continue to intercede for you. He does other things to. He makes a way for you to escape your temptation. Did you know that? Did you know you don’t HAVE to make the bad choice, there’s always a way out.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB)
13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Come to Him, call on Him and seek His face. Even if you don’t really believe but you might have a niggling feeling that you’re missing something, that you just aren’t quite fulfilled in life, I challenge you to get in a quiet place without any distractions and just pray in your mind “God, if you are real, please show yourself to me. God, I am doing all I know how and still feel empty inside. If You made me and You know how best I tick, then You can make me into what You want me to be. Show me how to do that please.” Then find your bible or use biblehub or biblegateway and start reading through John. Countless souls have come to Jesus through the reading of John. Maybe your soul is next? I pray it is. I love you friend, I don’t know who you are but I love you. I want you to be eternally saved and not eternally separated from God.
Come to Jesus and live.
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