“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1).

The greatest danger of living in a dangerous culture may not be what surrounds us, but what slowly influences us. Influence rarely announces itself. It works gradually. What once shocked us can become something we tolerate. What we tolerate can become something we accept. And what we accept can eventually become something we embrace. That is the real lesson behind the familiar “frog in the kettle” illustration. The danger is gradual acclimation. We can become so accustomed to the temperature around us that we fail to recognize what it is doing within us.

Demas is a sobering example. He had traveled with Paul and participated in ministry, yet Paul eventually wrote, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). Notice the problem: love. Something had captured his affection. Maybe the most important question when we read Paul’s description of perilous times is not, “What is happening to our world?” but, “What is this world doing to my heart?”

That is why Proverbs 4:23 warns us, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” We are called to live in this world, love people in this world, and reach people in this world. The danger is not simply that we are in the world. The danger is when the world gets into us.

So guard your heart. Guard your loves. Pay attention to what is shaping you. The greatest danger may not be that the world grows darker, but that our heart adjusts to the culture until it feels at home in the culture.

–PGR