Love others

Matthew 24 : Signs of the End

12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 

 

Girl gets raped while people stand and watch

 

Empathy dropped 40 percent in college students 2000

 

 

2ND TIMOTHY 3 : EVIL IN THE LAST DAYS 

1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2For men shall be lovers of their own selves,

covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,

disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of  corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. 9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as their’s also was.

 

Jannes and Jambres were the magicians that were matching Moses and Aaron when God told Moses to tell Pharoah “Let my people go so they can serve me”.


  

 

 “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

~Arthur C. Clarke


“There is no magic in magic, it’s all in the details”  ~ Walt Disney 

When God sent Moses and Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let his people go, the Magicians of Egypt could imitate the first 2 plagues through enchantments & magic. To be God’s Image Bearers, does not mean imitating His Creative Work, it means abiding in His Love, by obeying the Commandments. 

The closer

you look,

the less

you see.

 

 

It’s hard

to serve

God like this.

 

Get off of Facebook 


 

and get your face into this book


 
Proverbs 1310Only by pride comes contention[h4683]
[h4683]  מַצָּה matstsâh, contention= “debate, strife, a quarrel:”

 

 

You cannot abide in Christ when you are covetous and envious of others

or are provoking others to be jealous and envious of you,

ie chasing after awards, notoriety

God is Love and love does not envy or boast.

The only way to abide in his love is to keep his commandments

 

JOHN 15 : JESUS THE TRUE VINE

1I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me.

5I am the vine, you are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.

6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. 8Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love.

10If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you

 

Love can only be defined by how Paul describes it: 

Love is patient,

Love is kind;

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

Paul makes a clear distinction on what LOVE IS NOT

Love does NOT ENVY

Love is not puffed up (hypocritical/conceited)

Love does not behave itself unseemly

Love is not self-seeking

Love is not easily provoked

Love does not think evil 

Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  

 

1 Corinthians 13 : Love  

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.

4Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not;  love not itself, is not puffed up, 5Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; 6Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13And now stays faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is love .

 

 

Social Media Platforms are just that,

platforms for people to boast and express their opinion.  

It leaves everyone in the wake of people’s feed feeling either inferior or envious. 

It is provoking people to envy. 

If your post doesn’t get enough likes your day is ruined

and now you work to come up with something better

to get more praise from your followers which leads to pride.

Galatians 5 : Freedom in christ

13For, brothers, you have been called to liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 15But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.

Social Media (From an article on The Verge : link)


 Sean Parker, of Napster fame and an early investor in Facebook, says the founders of the social networking site knew they were creating something people would become addicted to, reports Axios, 

 

“God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains,”

 

he said at an Axiosevent in Philadelphia, noting that he has become a “conscientious objector” on social media, even though he still maintains a presence on Twitter and Facebook. (He is currently the founder and chair of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.)  Parker says, the social networking site : exploits human psychological vulnerabilities through a validation feedback loop that gets people to constantly post to get even more likes and comments.

 

“It’s exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology,”   “The inventors, creators — it’s me, it’s Mark [Zuckerberg], it’s Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it’s all of these people — understood this consciously. And we did it anyway.”

 

In other words, using Facebook is like junk food: you get instant gratification when you post for likes and comments.It’s quick and easy but has little substance.Parker says that the thought process when building Facebook was to figure out “how do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?”


US Suicide rates up 30% in the past 19 years

 

Galatians 5 : Living by the spirit

24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  25Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another. 

 

You cannot abide in Christ when you are covetous and envious of others

or are provoking others to be jealous of you

God is Love and love does not envy or boast.

The only way to abide in the Vine of Christ

and his love by keeping his commandments