Gleanings – Is it just me or is it chilly around here?
Matthew 24:1-14
“And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. “
Jesus is speaking of the end times. I am not in what follows. However, it occurs to me that followers of Jesus (as opposed those who are nominally Christian, those who were simply once baptized) are being reviled more and more even within our own country and at times by the established church. Could there be new discernible signs that the end is near? Regardless, come quickly Lord Jesus.
No, I am speaking of what is universally true and therefore present in every age. As wickedness multiplies, love dims. Here I am Aristotelian and following Aquinas. Virtues are habitual. The more we act virtuously the more we shudder at the thought of acting reprehensibly. Conversely, the more wicked we are the more numb we become to truth including love. Remaining upon this path leads one eventually to call evil good and good evil. In this wasteland people and relationships do not matter.
In the United States we are exposed daily to lawlessness (wickedness). Each man and each state will do what is right in his or its own eyes. For example, without debating the merits of their respective cases look at Red States and Blue States and how they handle illegal immigration. One side wants to go beyond federal law to establish state enforcement. The other side creates sanctuary cities having no regard for the law at all. We are hardly united. And our love for each other and the things of God and God himself grows cold. The issue becomes more important than the resolution to it. We attack the person and not the problem. Love grows dimmer.
The solution surely comes in us submitting to something higher than the self such that law is established and wickedness retrained. In the absence of such submission one can easily understand why the apostle appealed to Jesus to come quickly.