Kind & Gracious | Grace Devotional Bible Study

In Matthew 24 verses 12 and 13, the Lord is talking to the Jewish people about the coming tribulation period (which is the continuation of the prophetic program with Israel; the church the Body of Christ will have already been raptured out by then and in the Heavenly places) and says, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

Iniquity is wickedness. But much moreso it is also a lack of love towards others. In last weeks devotional study, we went over some verses explaining how legalistic teachings lead people to having a seared conscience and becoming narcissistic. In this verse the Lord is warning the Jews that because of all of the wickedness in the world at that time (and that includes the wickedness of false religious teachings) narcissism will really become rampant. He wants them to endure until the end. For their program at that time, this means that they must not loose faith and they must not cave in to worshipping the anti-christ who is the ultimate human narcissist (Satan is the ultimate narcissist of all creatures). The narcissist loves only himself. In fact, a more malignant narcissist is not capable of loving or having empathy towards others.

But the Jews must stay strong in their faith in the love of Jesus. Instead of turning to the false promises and allure of the anti-christ, they need to "stick with Jesus" and not take the mark of the beast. They must heed Christ's warnings.

One thing we can also learn from this verse even today in the dispensation of grace is to not allow ourselves to "wax cold". The world becomes increasingly more wicked, but we must not allow this to sway us from continuing to be kind, loving, gracious and sensitive people [sensitive in a healthy way] who desire for others to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

We are kind because God was and is kind to us.We are gracious because God was and is gracious with us. It'd Christ living in and through us that enables us to live godly and to be kind and gracious. This is our NEW nature as NEW creatures in Christ. It's a result of God's Spirit living in our spirit and His word transforming our minds so that we can think like He thinks (the mind of Christ) and do the things that he would have us do (godly living).

We should be kind, loving and gracious to believers and unbelievers alike (with healthy boundaries). An insensitive, uncaring, narcissistic world can easily cause us to "wax cold", but through Gods love in us as believers as well as our reading, studying and meditating on His word rightly divided, we can stay kind, loving, gracious and sensitive to the needs of others regardless of what is occurring in the world around us.

Journaling Prompt: Pray that the Lord will help you to stay sensitive in a healthy way to the needs of others and find some Bible verses that teach us how to be kind, gracious, charitable and loving towards others and write them in your journal.

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