Thought from today’s Bible reading from Matthew 24.
Jesus warned His disciples about some difficult times that would be in their future. Sadly, the hardships would cause many to turn away from God and “grow cold” in their love and dedication for Him.
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matthew 24:9-13).
Notice what Jesus said can cause His followers to turn away from Him:
- Persecution – The whole point of religious persecution is to persuade one to abandon his religious convictions. We will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12), so we must be prepared for it.
- Unpopularity – Many are tempted to follow the crowd to do evil (Proverbs 1:10; Exodus 23:2). Our desire must be to please God rather than men (Galatians 1:10).
- Discouragement – It can be a great discouragement to hear of our fellow Christians falling away from the faith. We can discourage others as well through our actions. Instead, we should seek to be an encouragement to others in doing right (Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:24-25).
- Division – While some division is necessary (Matthew 10:34-37; 1 Corinthians 11:19), our goal should be unity (Ephesians 4:3). Unity of the Spirit leads to the growth of the body (Ephesians 4:16).
- False teaching – Jesus warned that false prophets would mislead many. False teaching was not something to be ignored or tolerated. Tolerating false teaches jeopardizes one’s loyalty to the truth (Galatians 2:4-5). False teachers must be marked and avoided (Romans 16:17), not accepted and fellowshipped (2 John 10-11).
- Sin – Jesus mentioned lawlessness which is sin (1 John 3:4). Sin causes one to become hardened and leads him away from the Lord (Hebrews 3:13).
Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). This is true for us as well. If we are faithful until death, we will be rewarded (Revelation 2:10). Therefore, we must not allow anything (persecution, unpopularity, discouragement, division, false teaching, sin, etc.) to cause us to turn away from the Lord and back into the world.
Tomorrow’s reading: Matthew 25
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
