Culture That Torments The Soul
“And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,” Matthew 24:12 Amplified Bible
Quite simply this is saying that because of the ever increasing lawlessness (or the disregard for the commands of God and standards and morals that He has established), the hearts and souls of the people, the population in general, will grow cold towards one another. There is so much antichrist in the world today that it takes the love and compassion right out of people. Because people surround themselves in the heartlessness of this world, they lose the ability to think of others. Their thoughts are always and only upon themselves and the lust and desires that they have in life. The more lawless our culture becomes, the farther we step away from the things of Jesus and the less anyone thinks of others. Their collective heart grows very cold.
The world influences those who do not know Jesus, leading them to crushing defeats in a life that then becomes increasingly filled with hopelessness and despair. This is the way of the world, but so cold has our culture become that it even has an effect on those in the Body of Christ. When surrounded by the cold hearts of others we must be careful not to allow it to affect our hearts.
Look at this verse from 2 Peter that essentially says the same thing. This verse is speaking about Lot and the ever decreasing culture he dwelled in at Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at what happened to Lot, called a righteous man.
7 “But he saved Lot from those cities. Lot, a ·good [righteous] man, was ·troubled [distressed; or oppressed] because of the ·filthy lives [depraved behavior] of ·evil [lawless] people. 8 (Lot was a ·good [righteous] man, but because he lived with evil people ·every day [day after day], his ·good heart [righteous soul] was ·hurt [tormented] by the ·evil things [lawless deeds] he saw and heard.)” 2 Peter 2:7-8 Expanded Bible
The filth of the culture that surrounded Lot tormented his soul. He allowed the culture to affect his heart. We need to protect ourselves by daily being in the Word of God and removing the influence of the culture in our lives. Too many good believers have just given in because they are worn down from all the filth that surrounds them every day.
It is a humble honor to be able to be entrusted with the good news of Jesus Christ in this life. We have the hope within us, the truth and the life of Jesus Christ, make certain that we are influenced by Him today and not the world so that we can be His influence to the world around us that hunger for the hope of Jesus.
J Todd Hostetler