Love that Abounds

 

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. (Philippians 1:9-11 ESV).

 

If you didn’t read yesterday’s devotional, please take a moment and read it for the background to my declaration of what kind of corn flakes I ultimately purchased. I had more than enough choices of corn flakes, but I settled on the family size (of course) Kellogg’s (“They’re Grrrreat!”) Frosted (c’mon… no real choice there) flakes. And, please don’t send me a message admonishing me as to the ill effects of that much sugar and refined corn. I know these things, I just don’t want to change at this point in my life. Now, to get on with the truth: the church must practice unity with diversity. The big question is how do we accomplish that? Especially in our culture where we seem to so easily divide over everything.

 

The Apostle Paul comes to the rescue with the answer. Paul knew how to pack a lot into a little. In just three verses today we find this deep insight. Yes, Paul is thankful for the Philip­pians, but thanksgiving is not his only prayer. He also wants their love to abound, not in some sentimental, greeting-card kind of way. He knew that, for the Christian, love is more than sentiment. It also involves depth of insight, discernment, and the ability to figure out what is best in a given situation. It prompts us to ask, “What will help me be the most transparent to Jesus when I encounter this or that situation?”

 

We don’t typically associate love with a furrowed brow as we figure out the most fitting way to act. But Christ-like love involves exactly that kind of thoughtfulness. The goal is to produce spiritual fruit that reflects Jesus and also points ­others in his direction. When we read in that God “so loved the world” (John 3:16), we know that God’s plan of salvation was behind that divine love. Yes, such love did involve warmth and ardor, but God’s working out of our salvation required a lot of holy discernment too. Do we think it was easy to solve our sin problem? It cost the life of God’s only Son!

 

As we are called to love, we are also called to the God-like activity of fruitful hard thinking so that in all things we will bring glory to God in Christ. So, just like you make decisions about the kind of cereal on Aisle 3, spend a little more time and energy on making decisions about how you will abound in love to ALL of God’s children. Let your love abound to all.