Icebergs

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” [Matthew 24:12]

On March 21, 2000, one of the largest icebergs ever seen broke free from the Antarctic’s Ross Ice Shelf. An image, taken from a polar satellite 435 miles up, alerted scientists and mariners to the iceberg’s birth. It is one of the largest ever seen at 183 miles long and 23 miles wide, with a surface area of 4,250 square miles. The biggest iceberg ever recorded was 208 miles long and 60 miles wide, a total of 12,000 square miles. That’s larger than the country of Belgium. Even more amazing, it was spotted floating in the South Pacific. It’s astounding how far from the Polar regions icebergs can wander. Icebergs from the Arctic north have reached as far south as the island of Bermuda, a journey of 2,500 miles. One iceberg from the Antarctic has reached almost as far north as Rio de Janeiro, a journey of 3,440 miles.

The tallest iceberg ever recorded was 550 feet high. That’s as tall as a 50-story building! But remember that only 10 percent of an iceberg’s mass is above water, meaning the bulk of this titan could have reached 4,000 feet deep. I have also read there is so much ice stored on the continent of Antarctica, that if you could cut it into huge ice cubes one mile thick you would end up with 6 million cubes. Should all of that ice melt, it would raise the sea level over the entire world by 260 feet. Ice on Antarctica is so heavy that over the years it has pushed the continent itself down several hundred feet.

Jesus warned us in the last days, because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. How can we have our hearts warmed and our first loved rekindled in a spiritually cold world? Perhaps it is found in the words of John the Baptist: “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16).

When we invite Christ into our hearts and are filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a warming of our lives from within that will melt away the cold clutches of sin on our hearts. Then we will have purpose and not float aimlessly like a drifting iceberg.