Abound In Love...

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ

Philippians 1:9-10

Love is not a milestone we achieve, but a mountain without end that we continue to climb… As we examined over the past couple of days, Paul again reminds us of the priority that love plays in the life of a Christian… There are a lot of things which I believe that we all would love to thrive in; business, finances and happiness come to mind; however, Paul speaks today about the fact that we have to seek to be plentiful not in the money that we have in the bank but the love that we dispense and display to others… 1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” I incorporate this verse into today’s devotional because the love we offer to others puts the knowledge that we have in Christ on display… God is love and this is why Paul says that we must abound in it… When we abound in love, we are growing in God; we walk according to His will and fulfill the plans that He has uniquely designed for us… Being in Christ frees us from the failures of yesterday and provides the path to an abundant future for tomorrow… You have to make the choice to abound in love (in God) if you want to be set free as Peter tells us in his first epistle, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” We already established that God is love; so when we read this passage from 1 Peter we can conclude that it is God that covers a multitude of sins… You need to abound in love to be saved, you need to abound in love to be healed, and you need to abound in love to have a clean slate… Love is not natural and this is why we must abound in it, growing day by day… The more you love, the more Christ can manifest and move… This is not to say that love is simple, but that it is the right course one must take in order to reach the heights which you only dream about… This Christian walk is not a walk that is completed on this earth… This fact must become known amongst our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we develop an attitude of progression instead of comfort… We cannot afford to become complacent nor can we feel as if we have done enough; as a child of God growth is the key to defeating the enemy and overcoming hurdles… It’s a known fact that we all face trials and tribulations, we all have seen our fair share of rainy days and sleepless nights; however we must do as Paul instructs in the third chapter of this book and “…Forget those things which are behind and press toward the mark…” We must desire a better tomorrow, we must desire to keep the faith and we must desire to finish the race… The biggest way to show this desire is to grow in love… Love is an action word that declares the inward feelings that can’t be uttered… Jesus was the greatest example of love in that He gave is on life for us all… We couldn’t be saved by Him simply saying “I love you”; however, through His suffering and actions to display His love we have been saved… If we grow (abound) in love, we grow in Christ because God is more and more present in our life… The bible declares in 1 John 4:8, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Love is vital to our growth and our connection with the Lord…

If we are not able to love, how can we then say that we are of God…? Knowing that God is love tells me that love must be a part of my everyday life and must be in a true form for me to become the child that God has called me to be… When we love, we can speak a soft word to turn away wrath as we studied yesterday… When we love we can extend a helping hand to our fellowman or even our adversary… When love lives in us, we can be the united church that God seeks and overcome quarreling to let the Praise and Worship of Christ prevail… This is why Paul writes this important part of this letter to the church… One of the biggest areas that we find it hard to love in is the church… We are always ready to judge someone or ready to talk about someone when they do something wrong to us or we don’t get our way… Paul writes to the church of Philippi informing them of the desire that he has for them as a church; “I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and all judgments…” As was stated earlier, love is a (n) action word and a characteristic that we develop as we grow in Christ… Paul’s prayer is that the church doesn’t stop loving, but that it continues to grow in and through love… So many of us have love for one another; however, we must learn to nurture that love and produce a greater love that surpass the former version… Again, we have no greater example of love than when Jesus demonstrated His love and took the form of man; however, His love grew when He endured the beatings and being mocked… Jesus said, “No greater love hath a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…” Understand today, that His (Jesus) love transformed even more when He laid down His life on the cross and it will reach its highest form when He returns to this earth… Paul is calling for the love of Christ to continue to grow within them that it may spread throughout the region; true love is sacrifice, seeing past imperfections, and accepting people for who they are! Love holds families together and keeps people in prayer for one another… Paul is charging them to remember what TRUE LOVE is; we too need to remember what true love is. The world has seemed to have lost what love really means, the word is thrown around without any respect of what it means! When someone says they love you, it should show greatest when you don’t see eye to eye, when you have a sharp disagreement that simply test the love that you have for one another… This is why Paul prays that “your love may abound…” When love abounds it is easier to walk away from arguments, when love abounds it is easier to extend a kind hand to a (n) enemy, when love abounds you grow in Christ and therefore learn how to appreciate the life that you have received through Him… Paul goes on to say that he hopes it abounds that ye may prove things that are excellent and be sincere… Prove the love of Christ to others, let it spread from you that others will see Him and understand that you are His child! Prove the excellent things, don’t get caught up in the worldly form of love, prove the things of Christ in your life! Live according to His example, be good stewards of the grace that God has already given unto you and hold to His unchanging hand! Prove your faith in faithless times, prove your willingness when nobody else will go and be sincere according to the Grace of God to others! When someone is hurting you hurt for them, when they are in pain you feel it, you adapt to every situation and show them the power of prayer and God’s faithfulness… Love isn’t defined by words but actions… When you can help someone without saying a word or turn the other cheek you aren’t being soft, you are just showing the love that God is perfecting in you…

BE BLESSED!!!