MONDAY July 1st
Philippians 1:9-11
‘And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.’
The first point (look back at devotion June 28th) is:
That their love may abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment
Obviously, we are considering what Paul desired for the Philippian church as he wrote to them, but we need to apply it to the church today, therefore you and me, that OUR love may abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment.
Paul makes a similar prayer to the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 3:12–13 ‘. . . and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints’, and then in 2 Thessalonians1:3 he gives thanks because what he has prayed is evidently being answered for he says ‘We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.’
We need to realise that when Paul says, ‘your love’, he isn’t thinking of love as we see it in this world around us, but he is thinking about the love that comes from or flows out of our relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, he is talking about what we often hear being called ‘agape’ love. In Romans 5:5 we read ‘. . . and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’ The KJV says ‘because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.’
God’s love has been poured into our hearts, into our lives and it is such that it should overflow to those who are around us, particularly those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our lives should be conduits through which God’s love can flow and reach out to others. When it rains, my water butts in the garden have water pouring into them and once they are filled, it flows over and spreads around the surrounding area. Oh, that God’s love may fill us up so much, that it spills out to those around us.