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… 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 (us) so 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… 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!!!
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