Wax Cold

I was preparing a lesson on Tuesday night on Matthew 24 and I was struck by the phrase "the love of many shall wax cold" in verse 12 amongst the signs of the second coming. Cold has a footnote next to it and there is also a JST.

I will start with the footnote for Matthew.

Cold- Apostasy of individuals

OK, now lets take that definition and replace the word cold in the verse:
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall cause apostasy among the people."

Let's now define apostasy from the dictionary. "The renunciation of a religious faith or abandonment of a previous loyalty (could also include political-currently I would say I have apostatized from the R party)"

The Topical Guide leads us on a better understanding of apostasy and what leads to it:
your heart turns away
Duet 29:18  to serve other gods of nations- it will bear poisonous fruit
1 King 11:9  Solomon's heart turned away after God appeared to him twice!
Jeremiah 17:5 cursed who trust in man - make flesh his arm

We also turn away from righteousness, trust our own righteousness. Without God we have no revelation. We have no root. 

We also know that this now puts our house on the sand which when the rains come down and the floods come up- the house will wash away. Matthew also warns us that wicked bring more wicked with them. Apostasy leaves us unprepared because we aren't following God's will. 

There are lots of great little areas to jump off and study from the topical guide, but now lets go to the JST Matthew. The footnote here leads you to Isaiah 9:19 where we learn that wax cold means that no man shall spare his brother. Also Mosiah 9:2 is a cautionary tale of being slow to remember the Lord. They became blood thirsty and wanted to kill their leader. 

I would say that I definitely see a lot of the signs of the second coming as laid out in Matthew. It will be interesting to see how we look back on this time in our history. It is a world that I never thought would be. We have slid all the way back to the beginning with racism. It is an upside down world we live in and It's hard to believe that this is where we are. Especially after studying the OT last year and the Lord cautioning the people that they didn't want a king but the people wanted to "be like all other nations." What do we have going on today? The very same argument. Sometimes I shake my head in disbelief at how very little we have learned from our history ( a history that many believe is only a fairytale).

Not to despair! A cool little thing happened to me while I was sitting in the temple this morning. I had started writing this post yesterday and started making notes a day or two before that. I decided to just open up and see where I landed. It was the 45th section of Doctrine and Covenants. It's signs of the second coming and talking about a lot of the same things as Matthew 24. Here was my wax cold again. I think it gives a clearer understanding in section 45. 

The big question is this: how do we keep our hearts from waxing cold? Matthew tells us we need to treasure up the word. First; don't be troubled for these things must come to pass. Then, Don't let ourselves be overcome, watch, prepare, be faithful, wise, and doing God's will. What does section 45 say? 

57 For they that are wise and have received the ^atruth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their ^bguide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the ^cfire, but shall abide the day.

Yesterday while reading my newsfeed on FB I saw a quote by President Eyring which went so perfectly with what I had been studying:

"As the challenges around us increase, we must commit to do more to qualify for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

Casual prayer won’t be enough. Reading a few verses of the scripture won’t be enough. Doing the minimum of what the Lord asks of us won’t be enough. Hoping that we will have the Atonement work in our lives and that we will perhaps sometimes feel the influence of the Holy Ghost won’t be enough. And one great burst of effort won’t be enough.

Only a steady, ever-increasing effort will allow the Lord to take us to higher ground."

That quote sounds like an inoculation from apostasy and the extra strength we will need to endure the trying times that precede the second coming. A little later I decided to pull up a BYU speech to listen to while I cleaned all the sand out of the windows so that they could be repaired. I decided to listen to "The Lord's Pattern" by Kim B Clark. While I was listening to it I realized that I had heard the same thing from him a year earlier at a Seminaries and Institute fireside. I had remembered being shocked when I heard him say this:

"whatever level of spirituality we now enjoy n our lives. Whatever degree of faith in Jesus christ we now have. Whatever strength of commitment and consecration. Whatever degree of obedience or hope or charity is ours, and whatever level of professional sell r abliliy we have obtained- IT WILL NOT BE SUFFICIENT for the work that lies ahead." (emphasis added)

He continued by relaying that he pondered what it might mean to put on the whole armor of God and he learned to ask himself 2 questions:

*What am I doing that I should stop doing?

*What am I not doing that I should start doing?

I love how when we are searching and pondering and have a sincere desire to know the will of our Heavenly Father concerning who he wants us to be, what he wants us to know and what he wants us to be doing - HE WILL LEAD US THERE. I know it. I know it because I'm nothing special. He takes our efforts and magnifies them. I'm guided to many different sources to help me better understand. Sometimes what I'm learning becomes really clear and sometimes I learn something and don't know what it means to me, or how to apply it, or if I'm getting out of it what I'm supposed to. One thing I do know, is that it's always leading me to my personal mission. This specific exercise in study reveals a mission for all of us. The rest of that talk by Clark was about us being able to educate the world and help move the work forward in the climate we are in, but that it won't be easy and we are going to be asked to do increasingly more difficult things that we think we can't. The world will make it harder and harder to be righteous and to desire righteousness. Even the very elect will be deceived. We need protection from the storms that are headed our way. While the world crumbles around us in apostasy (cop killings, riots, terrorists, freedom erosion, no morality, complete breakdown of the family, Christianity on trial...), we don't have to. We can rise above and be a strength and a light and a testimony to the world of God's great love, mercy, and grace for those who turn to him through repentance and prepare themselves to join the family of God where they can find peace, rest and belonging. 

It's my goal to ask myself those 2 questions daily. I want to be part of the work. I teach early morning seminary and now online seminary as well. I also raise a family and have interactions with people everyday. I want to make a difference. I don't want to be deceived. I want to help people find their way to repentance and God. I want to be part of the solution and raise kids that can handle the battles of tomorrow. I can't do that without the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and I can't obtain that without upping my commitment and letting go of my favorite sins. It's not going to be easy, but it will be worth it.