When Love Grows Cold
When Jesus talks about the world unraveling into a deep brokenness, this is how he describes it:
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. - Matthew 24:12
This teaching comes in the midst of a longer section when Jesus is addressing what many call ‘the end times.’ One way to think about that season is as what happens when the world is at its worst. We can all experience a bit of the anxiety, difficulties and distress of that season in small ways in our daily lives.
The impact of these things is what Jesus is most concerned about: our love will grow cold. After all, love is what Jesus prioritized over everything else, even faith and hope.
The wonderful leader and theologian, Archbishop Oscar Romero, put the same thing in different words. He said, “This is the greatest disease of our world today: not knowing how to love.”
So how about you - do you sense your love growing cold? Are there ways you need to learn (or re-learn) how to love? What might it look like to double down on loving well in the midst of the challenges in this particular season of your life?