Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
The News media are telling alarming tales of the depravity of teenagers today, exposing themselves shamelessly before each other, using their cell phones. Their immodest abandon was undreamed of even one generation ago. They are throwing themselves away; it’s not only foolish; it is a form of social suicide.
The Lord Jesus long ago spoke of this dive into depravity when He describes our time today, when He said, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love [agape] of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12).
It is a surprise to many to realize that the word “agape” in the Bible means not only a high spiritual love theologically; it also means sexual love. This becomes evident when we read Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives,” where the verb is the verb for agape.
Agape includes conjugal, married love!
Love between the sexes is a delightful gift of the Lord. The poet who said it is “the sweet mystery of life” knew better than he wrote. When the Lord told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply,” what that command meant was that through attraction of the sexes for each other and their built-in desire to be one, the earth would be filled with people.
But it’s not a mere mechanism for producing births; it is the holy exercise of God-given love.
Now today that holy love is being trampled in the mud.
What can anybody do to help?
The sober, truthful answer is: proclaim “Christ and Him crucified.”
This current dive into depravity could never have happened if the teens involved had heard the cross of Christ proclaimed as living truth in their churches. When Paul came to ancient Corinth, he knew he was facing the demanding test of his ministry: how could he capture the heart attention of those depraved pagan people in that great Mediterranean city with its pagan religious prostitution in the great temple of Diana?
He tells us: “When I came to you ... I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). Did the people get tired hearing sermons all the time about the cross? No; they found life and true conversion; they couldn’t get enough.
That is equally true today! This writer was privileged to serve as pastor/evangelist in one of California’s biggest cities; the message of the cross brings people in from off the streets!
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
