Matthew 24

“And then many will fall away, and will betray one another, and hate one another.  Many false prophets, also, will appear and lead many astray; and owing to the increase of lawlessness, the love of most will grow cold.  Yet the person who endures to the end will be saved.” 
~ Matthew 24:10-13

    There seems to be a lot of warnings in the gospel of Matthew about false prophets and leaders.  I feel like we have been warned over and over the last several months about this and to not let ourselves be led astray.   (can you believe I started these back in September?!?!?)

    It’s obviously very important for us to be cautious about this.  We need to be careful who we put our faith in to lead us. 

    There are some very charismatic people out there who have the best intentions and lead us to the light and then there are those who fool us with their charisma and slowly, without us even noticing, change our course.

    Without even noticing, our love and care for one another “grows cold” and we are suddenly angry and full of ire and sometimes, outright hate towards those that we are told are against us.  

     It’s important for us to keep an eye on our hearts.  Check the control gages of our hearts and minds — the temperature, the levels of care, the tanks of love.

    What I mean is this. Are we truly being lead with love?  When you listen to a leader, a wanna be leader, even a friend or colleague, do you hear love in their words?  Do you hear kindness, care, concern for one another? 

    Or do you hear ire, do you hear meanness? Sarcasm? Rudeness? Hate?

    We can choose what leads us and we should always choose love.  If there’s not love in it, if there’s not kindness, forgiveness, understanding, I don’t imagine that we should follow it.   Jesus warns us over and over against it.   

    I’m not saying it’s easy, I’m not saying I’ve never been led astray, I’m saying let’s not follow blindly.  Let’s keep our eyes open to see through the fear they throw at us, to see through the charisma, the laced jokes and snide comments that make some of us laugh, and see it for what it really is — lovelessness, hate, anger — the opposite of Jesus, and then turn away, turn around and find our way to back to the love, to the kindness, to neighborliness, to care and concern for one another, to the love and teachings of Jesus.   We will find him waiting for us, arms wide open to receive us back into love.

    May we find our way to the love Jesus called us to and let it fill us to overflowing so that it flows out to everyone around us.

Until next time…♥️