Enduring Love

Pastor Samuel Tyler

In the inside of every born again believer is a groan to be cloth with our heavenly body eternal in the heavens living in enduring love. Jesus stated, Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved (Matthew 24:12,13 NASB). In these end of days the Lord stated that the love of God’s people will grow cold. Even at this time attendance to worship services in local churches is on the decrease. Some surveys say attendance is dropped as much as twenty percent. The word the Lord spoke actually speaks of a future time. We are now seeing a foreshadow of the fulfilling of that scripture. His antidote for resisting lawlessness and cold love is endurance in the love of God standing in great expectation on His word. Luke 21:28 The Lord further stated, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36 NKJV). The above statements by the Lord shows that an lifestyle in the flesh and worry due to fear would be paramount in the days we live in. He stated that if a lifestyle of watching the prophetic signs through prayer, that we would live in victory. The apostle Paul gave some love signs pertaining to our world that are ingrained in the very fabric of the culture of our nation. But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self- control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people 2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV. The apostle calls these times difficult. The Amplified Bible translates it as follows, perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with hard to bear].  At the first glance of this scripture we think about wars and trouble between nations and people groups. This scripture when examined in context is stating something very different. The keys to seeing the passage in context are lovers of self, not loving good, heartless (KJV without natural affection), lovers of pleasure, and having a form of godliness but denying the power of God. This speaks of a people that believe in God but deny the power of His word to live morally powerful lives. The Bivle gives us a moral code that we must live by. Speaking of it in another passage the book of Galatians 5:22-26 speaks of the power of God in the inward man to keep us from the passions of the flesh. Examining 2 Timothy on a personal level we can see how interpersonal relationships could be dangerous if self-control is not exercised. Heartless or without natural affection speaks of cold love for family. The problems with spousal and child abuse are constantly in the news. Women leaving their children is common today. Many states has passed laws to prevent mothers serving jail time if children are dropped off at hospitals or fire stations. Another sign in this passage is the love of pleasures. The love of pleasure is a gift from God. When it is abused it can develop like an addiction to drugs. You start with the simple pleasures of life like being with your family. Now with the nation living in stressful times the simple pleasures are not enough. We feed our minds with things and activities designed to overcome stress which ends in boredom. The stress causes our brains to overstimulate seeking pleasure, causing us to need more pleasure to feed the perceived lack of excitement in our lives. The cycle repeats until nothing moves us. The medical term is called anhedonia. This affliction is affecting everyone to some extent. Even in the church of the Lord Jesus we see it in a need to entertain congregates. If our gatherings are not designed using high energy then the brain isn’t stimulated to fill the need for pleasure. We leave the worship service feeling that we weren’t feed when actually we weren’t stimulated in the pleasure center of our brains releasing chemicals (dopamine)that produce feelings of pleasure. Pleasure seeking without self-control can lead to marital infidelities, divorce, and murder/suicide within family settings. Ministries are making the news with regularity due to the lure of this trap to stimulate the mind rather than still the heart to help the congregates hear the voice of God. Nevertheless, the word of God always has answers to our most desperate needs. 2 Timothy  gives us a plan of action. Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22 AMP). We can now see from the above scriptural quote, that the Holy Spirit gave us the antidote for this pleasure dependency. Fellowship in the proper spiritual environment will help us grow in enduring love as we move closer to the coming of the Lord. Our greatest pleasure on earth should be God Himself. Hearing His voice and obeying His word will build in us an enduring love that will never fail or disappoint.