Greetings!  This message was written by a brother Alan in Missouri and I trust that it blesses you as it has blessed me...

      I don't know what all the talk about the need for more love in the church today is all about; there is plenty of love, in fact men are very loving.  There is probably more love in the church today than ever before.  The Holy Spirit actually predicted that men would be loving in the last days.  In fact, He indicated that men's love would be abounding in many ways.  Paul predicted that during the perilous times of the last days men would be characterized by their love.  He stated clearly that the Holy Spirit was indicating men would be "lovers of themselves" and "lovers of money" and even "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God."  So the problem in the church today is not that men do not have love, it is rather the things that they are loving. 

     Jesus indicated much the same; He stated that men would always be loving.  They will always love the one they are serving, and hate the one they are not serving.  Every man is loving, the question is "who is he loving."  Religious men are especially loving, like the Pharisees.  They "loved" the praises of men more than the praise that comes from the one and only God.  Men love themselves, men love money, men love pleasure, men love praise of men.  Men even love another love, yes it's true; Jesus said to the first church in Revelation "Ye have left your first love."  He did not say they were no longer loving, rather, they were loving someone or something else instead of their first love, Christ Himself.  Jesus also said the very religious Jews loved their traditions more than the actual commandments of God. 

     There is a lot of love in the world today, in fact men are full of love, especially for the world.  Men can love so much that they depart from walking with godly men, like Demas, "who having loved this present world hath departed."  Men are full of much love, consider the love of sports, the love of music, the love of leisure, the love of food, the love of cars, the love of careers.  There is much more love in men than we realize.  I will say it again, the problem with men is not a lack of love, for they are full of all kinds of love.

     So what did Jesus mean when He warned, "Do to the increase of lawlessness, the love of the many will wax cold."   The key is the definite article "the" love.  There is one kind of love waxing cold today, and it's the only one Jesus and the Holy Spirit ever indicated would become rare on the earth.  That is the "love of the truth."  Men love religion, just look at how many churches, temples, mosques, high places, covens, and seminars there are.  What men are loving less and less is "sound doctrine" or "truth."  Paul said that the time would come when men would no longer endure sound doctrine but would turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."  Men love myths, they also love lies more than the truth.  God has a special present for those who "receive not the love of the truth", and that is "a strong delusion."  He sends this upon those who are perishing because they have refused to love the truth and instead taken pleasure in unrighteousness. 

     Since Jesus said, " I am the way, the truth, and the life."  Those who refuse the love of the truth, are refusing to love Christ.  Jesus also said, "Thy word is truth"; therefore, those who refuse the love of the truth actually are refusing to love the word of God.  These same men "love" to be taught, in fact they "heap to themselves teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."  The world is full of men who are very loving, the problem is that they are loving the wrong thing and refusing the only One worth loving." 

     There is a power in "the" love of God.  We can read about it in the Song of Solomon.  It says that love is as strong as death, as unyeilding as the grave, it is a blazing fire, a mighty flame that many waters can not quench.  It goes on to say that if one were to offer all the goods of his house for love, they would be utterly scorned. People turn to God for many reasons, fear, loneliness, depression, emptiness, confusion, help and other more noble reasons; but, none of these motivations will keep a man in God.  Only one thing will keep a man seeking, keep him praying, keep him serving, keep him striving after righteousness, and that is "the" love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  This is why we must keep ourselves in "the" love of God.  It is knowing "this" love that surpasses knowledge that will enable us to grow up into all the fullness of God.  It takes being strengthened with power by the Holy Spirit in the inner man to even be able to grasp this love that surpasses knowledge.  If we grasp "this" love, the whole church will build itself up in it; whereas men loving men has produced every sort of perversion imaginable. 

     God in mercy baptize us in "the" love of God shed abroad in our hearts by Your Holy Spirit.  Brothers catch the vision of this old great hymn.

          More love to Thee O Christ, more love to Thee  Hear now the prayer I raise on bended knee

         This is my ernest plea, more love O Christ to Thee, more love to Thee,

                                           More love to Thee.