Snowdrops of good news break through the cold hardness of secularism

On the need to guard our hearts.

Not a day seems to go by at the moment without some drastic event or other filling our newspapers and screens – not helped, of course, by 24/7 broadcasting, Twitter and every other way in which modern technology allows us to access events all over the world almost in real time. The effect on our hearts, minds and spirits can be overwhelming. We are on information overload - more so than any other generation in human history.

This week, continuing demonstrations in Hong Kong against Chinese tyranny have vied for airtime with growing instability in Kashmir, more devastation in Syria, the US-China trade war, a possible arms race between the US and Russia and escalating tensions with Iran in the Gulf. And of course we cannot and should not forget the mass murders of Christians happening across North Africa virtually every day, though they go largely unreported.

Never mind Brexit and Project Fear: the global ‘birth pangs’ heralding the return of our Messiah genuinely seem to be increasing in both frequency and intensity.

Bloodshed Follows Bloodshed

Perhaps most shocking of all this week has been news of the two mass shootings in the USA, claiming 22 lives in Texas and nine in Ohio, both carried out by deeply disturbed young men (aged 21 and 24, respectively). At the same time, at home we heard of a young child being hurled off a high viewing platform at the Tate Modern in London, allegedly an unprovoked attack by a teenage boy.

Surely God’s lament through the Prophet Hosea to morally degenerate Israel is pertinent: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hos 4:1-2).

Children Plotting to Kill

When our children and young people are plotting to kill, something is drastically wrong: this very concept is awful and provocative, and should be prompting searching questions.

But when the US shootings were first reported, I reacted probably in much the same way as many did: a few moments thinking how terribly regrettable it all was, before getting on with my day. It wasn’t until I read a testimony from the family of one of the victims, daring to forgive the perpetrator with true Christian grace, that I was actually brought to tears and prayer.

How easy it is, unless special care is taken, to grow accustomed to the gradual encroachment of evil as an ordinary part of everyday life.

How easy it is, unless special care is taken, to grow accustomed to the gradual encroachment of evil as an ordinary part of everyday life. We’ve seen it all too many times before; our hearts gradually harden to it, often imperceptibly. But the above verses from Hosea carry a warning: the spread of evil in a society and the departure of love are two sides of the same coin.

Pondering these things, I was reminded of Jesus’ salutary warning in Matthew 24, that “Because of the increase in wickedness [in the times of the end] the love of most will grow cold – but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (v12). Let’s consider this more for a moment.

Global Cooling?

How, precisely, might an increase in wickedness around the world threaten the love in our own hearts? Jesus’ description of love ‘growing cold’ here is translated using a Greek word (psuchó) meaning to breathe or blow on something in order to cool it down. Basic science teaches us that warm objects lose their heat when they are exposed to a cooler environment. Just so, spiritually: spending too much time immersed in contemplating the world’s evil is enough to cool the love in anyone’s heart even to numbness.

But another way objects can grow cold is by going underground, hiding away in places where neither day nor night can permeate. Just as the love of God in our hearts can be chilled by constant contemplation of evil, so a total refusal to acknowledge or face up to the realities of evil can have the same effect. This deliberate avoidance hardens hearts in self-defence.

A third way in which things grow cold is through inactivity, which perhaps speaks for itself as a spiritual problem. And a fourth way is through isolation – simply by not being near other sources of heat. Many Christians in Britain are finding themselves in a season of spiritual isolation at the present time; though God-given, these nevertheless come with their own challenges and are not intended to be permanent.

The spread of evil in a society and the departure of love are two sides of the same coin.

Staying Warm

Jesus followed his outline of the terrible days which will precede his return (Matt 24) with a series of parables designed to teach his disciples how to ‘stand firm to the end’, their hearts alive and warm: strengthened by time in the warmth of God’s presence, invigorated by the knowledge of his truth, goodness and victory.

These emphasise the need to be found prepared and filled with the Holy Spirit, faithful and active, wise, watchful and alert. Elsewhere in the New Testament the Apostles join the call for faithful, holy living (e.g. 2 Pet 3; 1 Tim 4; 2 Tim 3:1-4:5).

But, “over all these virtues put on love” (Col 3:14). It’s a cliché, but the fire of real, God-given love is the first and best antidote to these days in which we find ourselves.