Matthew 24.12 observes, because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold.

It’s hard to do good when everyone else is doing wrong. Its hard to do good when everyone else seems to be advocating doing bad.

Our hearts and minds are shaped by someone or something. If we saturate ourselves with Bible reading, listening, memorizing and meditating we will think about things more like God thinks about things. If we listen mostly to the radio, internet and television while attending public schools and working in a secular environment we will think and thus act, more like those around us.

The Church from it’s earliest days understood this problem. For many, their solution was to hole up in a cave someplace and separate as much as possible from the world. While the goal of personal holiness and God centeredness is good, the means wasn’t and isn’t what God wants from His people.

When God lived among us as one of us He didn’t exclude Himself from us. Jesus is described as a friend of sinners. This means Jesus, God, hung around people who were different than Him without being offended by them or giving offense to them. The Church has never really done well at that same combination.

God in Jesus told us to live, (give, serve, work, dwell, participate) in the world but not to be of the world (base, godless, evil, disobedient, selfish or self-seeking). Jesus gave us the law of love. He commanded us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, manifesting this love practically by loving our neighbor as we love our self.

If we will focus on the law of loving God, (doing all we can to obey Him) we will practically love people. Loving people is simple but not easy. It is simple to help, encourage, serve, hug, smile, share but not easy when we are busy, they are rude, we are impatient, they are selfish etc.

If there is less love in the world it is because Christians are not loving God. If Christians fail to place their priority first and most on knowing God and doing His will they will fail to love people. When the world feels unloved it becomes increasingly cold, hostile to God and to each other.

Christians must make the choice to love God so that the world will reap the result of feeling loved which will make our world a much better place for everyone.