Love Grows Cold

Hardened Hearts in the End Times

At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Because of the...
"increase of wickedness" (NIV)
"Sin will be rampant" (NLT)
"lawlessness will be" increased (ESV)
"iniquity shall abound" (KJV)
"spread of evil" (GNT)
"increase of evildoing" (NAB)
...the love of most will grow cold,
but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:10-13 NIV
In the end times, wickedness and hate will increase and love will decrease.
It will be a time of betrayal and great fear.

And just like true love drives out all fear (1 John 4:18),
fear exposes fake, superficial love.
And in the end times, FEAR will be rampant and out of control.

The love of most people toward God, toward the church, and toward true believers will "grow cold." This growing hatred results in many turning against one another and betraying one another. (Matthew 24:9–10).

The beginnings of a cold, hard heart can be traced to deception (false prophets), greed, fear, and persecution.
This coldness coincides with the great apostasy or falling away from the Church.(see webpage on the Great Apostasy)

Matthew 24:12-13

A Cold Heart is a Hard, Unbelieving Heart

The Bible says that a hard heart is an unbelieving heart. A hard heart is unresponsive towards God's word and mercy. It is a heart that is unconvinced of God's goodness and is cold toward God and His people.

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, --- Hebrews 3:8

And we know from scripture that greed can cause a hard heart. (Ephesians 4:18-19)

Moreover, a hard heart is characterized by a lack of discernment and understanding of spiritual things, often extending into the physical realm. The result is an inability to perceive spiritually the things of God.

Jesus often said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." --- Matthew 11:15

And quoting Isaiah, Jesus says, "For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them." --- Matthew 13:15

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. --- Romans 2:5

Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. --- Proverbs 28:14

But as True Believers... we can be confident that we possess the love of God that never grows cold. However, we need to be careful not to allow sin, especially greed or fear, to have a foothold in our lives during the end times.

True, godly love in a person's life is a sign of being born again. And those who truly love God will act on that love, towards other people. This is utterly impossible for sinful man to achieve. This can only be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." --- 1 John 4:7

And as followers of Christ, we are called to even love our enemies.
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." --- Matthew 5:44-45

We are called by God to overcome evil with good.
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." --- Romans 12:21

"And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
--- Matthew 22:37-40