BiblicalInsights.net

In Matthew 24, Jesus instructs us concerning two major events: the destruction of Jerusalem and His Second Coming.  The destruction of Jerusalem is detailed in 24:1-35.  The Second Coming is discussed in 24:36-51.  With regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus gave many signs.  However, with regard to His Second Coming, He gave no signs (vv. 36-37).
Jesus makes an interesting statement in the context of Matthew 24 that deals with the signs concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.  He states, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12).  This statement indicates an inverse relationship between iniquity and love.  As iniquity increases, love decreases.  As love increases, iniquity decreases.  Jesus predicted greater iniquity because men would love God and each other less.
Iniquity is lawlessness.  It is sin or evil.  Lawlessness produces an undesireable effect: lovelessness.   To “wax cold” is the process of dying love.  When lawlessness abounds, love dies.  Love produces a warmth of the soul.  Coldheartedness is the result of iniquity.
Love God Less.
Love for God is manifested in the following ways:  adoration (praise, worship); attachment (covenant relationship with God); affection (desire of the human heart for the sacred indicated by priorities); attitude (reverence and godly fear); and activity (obedience and righteous conduct).  When men love God less, God is not praised or worshipped.  Often something else takes God’s place, idolatry develops.  Idolatry destroys the identity and nature of God by changing human concepts of godness.  When men love God less, they do not seek to live in harmony with God’s law.  They become rebellious and disobedient to God.  They do not make God a priority nor do they fear God and respect His word.  Iniquity abounds and love for God diminishes and dies.
Love Neighbor Less.
Lawlessness produces many sins against one’s neighbor.  Adultery is a sin against one’s neighbor when someone steals his wife.  Fornication is a sin against one’s own body and God.  But, it is also a sin against one’s neighbor when we use him/her to fulfill the lusts of our flesh.  In the absence of true, committed, love, sex becomes gratuitous and recreational.  It becomes pleasure oriented.  However, it also becomes the means of disease and unwanted children.  Sometimes unwanted children are sacrificed to convenience and aborted.  Abortion is a sin against another human being.  Yes, when iniquity abounds, love for others diminishes and dies.  When we lie, we destroy trust.  No relationship can survive in the absence of trust. Lying is a sin against our neighbor.  Murder is also a sin against one’s neighbor.  When lawlessness abounds, violence increases.  Sometimes we do not show any respect for the reputation of our neighbor.  Slander, gossip and back-biting are all sins that abound when we love less.  In Matt. 24:10, hatred and persecution are mentioned.  Hatred is enmity for another.  Christians will be persecuted when iniquity abounds.  The list could continue, but these sins surely prove that in the absence of love, numerous types of evil will befall our neighbor.
The Power of Love
Love for God and for neighbor are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 22:36-39).  Love for God and for neighbor contain religous and moral elements that act as good leaven in the world in which we live.  Love for God comes first!  We cannot have true love for our neighbor and have a distorted view of God.  God is love (I John 4:8, 16).  We learn love from God (Eph. 5:1-2).  Love preserves relationship with God.  Love preserves purity while lawlessness destroys it.  Love protects my neighbor.  Where love abounds, iniquity diminishes and dies.  James tell us to “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:8).  One of the most powerful ways to resist Satan is to love.
You Choose.
Now that you are fully aware of the outcomes of both iniquity and love, you must choose.  Where iniquity abounds, love dies.  Where love abounds, iniquity dies.  You must decide.  You choose.

Mental toughness is essential to successful living.  The mental aspect of the game is perhaps the most important element in sports regardless of the type of sports being played.  Mental and spiritual toughness are essential elements of Christian living.  Mental toughness is often associated with sports or the military, but it has a broader application.  If we desire to be successful in business, in marriage, in parenting, in work, in educational attainments or in Christian living, we need to be mentally and spiritually tough.
What is mental toughness?
Mental toughness is having a psychological edge that enables you to be consistent, confident, focused, and determined during high pressure situations in order to perform at maximum potential (Potential 2 Success, by Ralph Jean-Paul, Aug. 27, 2011).  In short, mental toughness is a disciplined mind.  Here is where spiritual application can be made.  There are demands to Christian living that require us to be mentally tough.  Persecution is an example of a demanding situation.  Dealing with sinful situations can be very demanding.  Overcoming addictions to drugs and alcohol are good examples.  We must be spiritually tough in order to bear up under extreme circumstances.  We must be spiritually disciplined.
Double mindedness undermines spiritual toughness.  “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).  Double mindedness is duplicity or hypocrisy.  The hypocrite is unstable in all his ways.  Double mindedness produces double standards.  We exhibit double mindedness when we say one thing and do another.  Consistency is undermined and spiritual instability results.  This produces a state of spiritual weakness that makes us vulnerable to Satan’s temptations.  It is a formula for failure.
Spiritual aspects of a disciplined mind involve the following habits of the mind and heart.  First, daily reading and study of God’s Word is essential.  Knowledge of the truth is the foundation for faith.  Faith is both conviction and confidence of heart which are essential elements of being spiritually tough.  Paul warns us about being “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).  Doctrinal instability is a sign of spiritual weakness. Second, regular attendance at the worship assemblies is an essential aspect of spiritual training.  In worship, we strengthen the mind and heart in righteousness and godliness.  Righteousness and godliness are essential elements of spiritual toughness.  Moral integrity is connected to godliness.  When we are met with temptations, we need true godliness to resist the devil.  Meeting temptation head-on and saying, “no”, to the lusts of the flesh necessitates spiritual toughness.  “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promnsied to them that love him” (James 1:12).  We can make the devil flee from us.  “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).  Such resistance comes from strength not weakness.  It comes from a disciplined mind and heart.  It comes from spiritual toughness forged in devotion to God.
Here are seven characteristics of spiritual toughness. 
First, there is confidence in yourself.  You must believe in your ability to succeed in living for Jesus.  Paul believed in himself because he trusted in God to supply him with strength.  “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13).  Spiritual confidence is based upon faith in God.  Attitudes and actions go together.  Paul’s “I can” translates into positive living.  Paul overcame all types of hardships and persecution because of this strong mental attitude that fueled his powerful actions.
Second, we must have focus.  If a person cannot stay focused, it is easy to collapse mentally in high pressure situations. Christians must stay focused on the goal.  Paul did this.  “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).  The ability to concentrate on the task and stay focused is an essential skill to success.  Obstacles will come.  Keep your eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2) and He will lead you to the prize–eternal life.
Third, we must be motivated.  Motivation is excitement about the goal.  It is desire to accomplish the goal.  Punishment and rewards are motivators.  The desire for excellence is a motivator.  The example of others can motivate us.  However, love is the greatest motivator.  “We love him, because he first loved us” (I John 4:19).  An unfeigned love for the Lord can undergird spiritual toughness and motivate us to pass from ordinary to extraordinary.
Fourth, we must possess courage.  Courage is the ability to face danger or unpleasant circumstances with strength and good emotion.  Courage is fear subdued by love and faith.  We need courage to speak the truth to a hostile audience.  We need courage to face oppression by evil governments or false religions.  We need courage to to overcome our own weaknesses and failures.
Fifth, we must have composure.  Composure is self possession, coolness, self-control.  Spiritual toughness results when we “gird up the loins of your mind” (I Pet. 1:13).  There are times when we must collect ourselves and hold it together.  Stress, pressure, and tension will test the strength of the mind and heart.  There are times when a Christian must be “wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove” (Matt. 10:16).
Sixth, we must be able to see the goal through to the end.  This is resiliency.  Resiliency means that we can bounce back from a setback.  We push through pain and suffering to reach the goal.  Facing failure within ourselves or the failure of a loved one requires resiliency.  Sometimes we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back to the right pathway for our lives.
The final aspect of mental and spiritual toughness is positivity.  Many are defeated before they ever enter the game.  They accomplish this defeat through negative self-talk.  Negative self-talk is self-defeating.  We sabatoge our own success.  Suppose that the coach asks you to take the final shot that could win the game.  You immediately start negative self-talk, “I can’t make that shot if my life depended on it.”  Or, “don’t give me the ball, let someone else take the shot.”  What if we told ourselves, “take a good look at the basket, see it, feel it, trust it, and shoot it.”   Mental toughness means that we stay positive in stressful situations.  A positive person says, “I can” (Phil. 4:13).  A positive person looks for solutions instead of admiring the problem.  A positive person combines all of the elements of spiritual toughness which makes him/her even more powerful.  You will come across something this week that will test  your mental and spiritual toughness.  Now is the time to prepare for those struggles of the soul that come to all of us.  It is possible to win the ultimate prize and receive the crown of righteousness (II Tim. 4:6-8).

In I Samuel 17, the armies of the Philistines and the Israelites were set in battle array against each other in the area of Shochoh.  Saul was king of Israel at this time. The Philistines had a champion named Goliath who was nine feet nine inches tall.  He was heavily armed.  His wore a helmet made of brass.  He had a coat of mail that weighed 5,000 shekels of brass.  He had greaves of brass upon his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders.  He possessed a spear the shaft of which was like a weaver’s beam and the head of which weighed 600 shekels of iron. To complete his armament, a shield bearer went before him.  Goliath was an awesome spectacle.
The giant taunted the armies of Israel.  He challenged them to send out a man from among the army to fight with him.  The challenge involved a winner- take- all element.  The losing side would become servants to the winner.  There would be no more fighting.  The conflict would be resolved by this one battle between two men from opposing sides.
Saul and the army of Israel feared Goliath.  No man dared step forward.  David came into the camp of Israel bringing supplies for his brethren.  While in the camp, David hears Goliath’s taunt and makes an immediate response.  David’s heart was stirred within him and he seized the moment and volunteered to fight the giant.
Saul does not think David is fit for battle.  Saul believes David is too inexperienced and weak.  David persists and relates that God had delivered him from a lion and a bear.  Saul relinquishes and attempts to outfit David with his own armor.  However, David did not approve and rejected Saul’s armor on the basis that he had not proved the weapons.  Instead, he chose a sling, five stones and his staff to face the giant, Goliath.
Ancient armies like Israel had three types of soldiers.  The first was cavalry.  These men were armed and road on horseback or in chariots.  The second was infantry.  These men were foot soldiers who wore armor and carried swords and engaged in hand to hand combat.  The third was projectile warriors.  These men were archers and slingers.  Slingers had a leather pouch attached on two sides by a strand of rope.  They would put a rock or lead ball into the pouch, swing it around in increasingly wider and faster circles, and then release one end of the rope, hurling the rock forward to its mark.  Slinging took an extraordinary amount of skill and practice.  In Judges 20:16, the Bible indicates that some slingers could throw a stone within a “hair’s breadth.”  An experienced slinger could kill or seriously injure a target at a distance of up to two hundred yards.  Paintings from medieval times depict slingers hitting birds in midflight.  The Romans had a special set of tongs made just to remove stones that had been embedded in some poor solider’s body by a sling.
David had no intention of honoring Goliath’s call to single, hand-to-hand combat.  He was a slinger and would strike the giant from a distance.  His strategy was an important part of his victory.  He runs toward Goliath using both speed and agility.  He attacks the giant from a comfortable distance and takes him by surprise.  He aims at Goliath’s forehead–the giants most vulnerable point.  He puts the stone into the sling and hurls it around and around, faster and faster and at six or seven revolutions per second, he releases one end of the rope and sends the stone speeding toward its target.  Eitan Hirsch, a ballistics expert with the Israeli Defense Forces, recently did a series of calculations showing that a typical-size stone hurled by an expert slinger at a distance of thirty-five meters would have hit Goliah’s head with the velocity of thirty-four meters per second–more than enough to penetrate his skull and render him unconscious or dead.  This is the equivalent of a fair-size modern handgun.  David could have attacked Goliath in a little more than a second.  David changed the shape of the battle.  He used strategy, skill, speed, and surprise and won a great victory.
The duel reveals our assumptions about power.  Saul and the army of Israel feared Goliath because they measured his strength in terms of physical might.  David is small and weak, but reveals that power can come forth in strategy and substituting speed and surprise for strength and using skill to defeat an opponent.   In many ways, David had the advantages and used them to execute a great victory.
The duel also reveals assumptions about the enemy.  Saul and the army of Israel thought they knew Goliath, but did they?   Goliath was certainly big and had proven himself adept at hand-to-hand combat.  However, his size also worked against him.  He was heavy and slow.  He asks for David to come to him.  He cannot maneuver well.  His giant size may have been attrributable to acromegaly –a condition where a binign tumor on the pituatary gland causes an overproduction of human growth hormone.  A side effect of this condition is poor eye sight.  Goliath may have had difficulty seeing David.  David carried only one staff.  But, Goliath mentions staves (plural).  Golaith did not respect David.  Instead, he mocks him.  He seem oblivious to what is really going on around him.  He is dull rather than sharp.  David exploited his enemie’s vulnerabilities which led to his triumph.
David also possessed some intangibles.  David had tremendous faith in God.  He was confident that he could defeat Goliath because of past victories that God had given to him over a lion and a bear.  He was courageous because of his authentic faith in the living God.  In short, David had heart!
Goliath was defeated by a smaller, in some ways weaker, but smarter adversary.  David used strategy, speed, surprise, and skill to defeat Goliath.  His spirit was strong and his confidence was high.  He never doubted his ability to win.  He knew the vulnerabilities of his enemy and exploited them.  In the end, David triumphed and began a long career of military accomplishments.
As we begin a New Year, let us go forth in the spirit of David.  Let us be smarter in fighting our adversary the devil.  Let us go forth in the strength of the Lord.  Let us connect with God by faith and obedience to His will for the “battle belongs to the Lord.”  (reference:  Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath, pp. 3-15).