"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12).

What did Jesus Christ mean when He used these words to describe the cold love of our society shortly before His return to earth?

The Bible defines love

Greek, the original language of the New Testament, has three main words to define different aspects of love. These words and their meanings are…

• Agape: sacrificial love, unselfish affection and outgoing concern for others.
• Eros: romantic love, as between a husband and wife.
• Phileo: brotherly love, as between good friends.

Christ used agape to explain that in the last days—our days now—people would not be expressing outgoing, unselfish affection and concern for others. Instead, they would be self-consumed and cold toward others.

And this is happening now. Pick up the newspaper. Turn on the television news. Scan the headlines on the Web. Listen to the commercials during your favorite television program. Increasingly, you will see self-absorption rather than outgoing concern.

How to avoid cold love

In this environment, how can we keep our love from growing cold? The most obvious answer: Ask God for help to develop our ability to express the outgoing concern of agape type love.

What other practical steps can we take? While there are many good answers, I want to cover just one.

We are all heavily influenced by what we see on television and the Internet. It may surprise you to realize that a part of keeping your love spiritually hot is to watch positive and encouraging things. Look for things that will help you think beyond yourself. Consider:

• There was the story of Jason McElwain, a Rochester, New York, high school student with autism. To reward Jason’s enthusiasm and dedication as manager of the varsity basketball team, Coach Jim Johnson allowed him to play the last four minutes of a division title game. McElwain caught fire, hitting six straight three-point shots and sending the crowd into frenzied celebration (video here).

• There were the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, which brought many uplifting stories of both personal and collective triumph. One of the more inspiring advertisements in a series sponsored by Visa featured the unmistakable voice of American actor Morgan Freeman speaking these words (video here):

"Maybe it’s not where an athlete is from that makes us root for them. Maybe it’s not the flag on their back, or the anthem that we hear when they win that makes us cheer. Maybe it’s simply that they are human, and we are human; and when they succeed, we succeed."

• Just recently there was the incredible story of US Airways Flight 1549, which was forced to land in New York’s Hudson River when both engines failed shortly after takeoff due to a "bird strike." Miraculously, Captain Chesley Sullenberger landed the plane safely. All 155 passengers and the entire flight crew survived the incident. The television news magazine 60 Minutes provided an excellent account of this inspiring story (video here).

Vertical thinking video filter

In the Bible God gave us a filter to help decide what to watch on television and the Internet: "Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things" (Philippians 4:8).

If we do this, we will be taking one more step toward keeping our love from growing cold—and one more step toward true vertical thinking! VT