Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for love to abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment is exactly the heart of Philippians 1:9-11, and it is a wonderful thing to bring before the Lord.
Scripture speaks of different kinds of love. There is love on the physical level and love on the level of natural affection and friendship, which is often reciprocal and based on what draws us to another person. But the love Paul is praying for is agape, the divine, self giving love that comes from God alone. It is the love that gives without seeking return, the love God showed when He loved us before we loved Him and sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. That love is poured into our hearts through Jesus Christ, and it is greater than any spiritual gift. Gifts and even the special knowledge God may give for a moment are partial and will pass away, but this love remains. It is the greatest because it includes faith and hope within it, believing and hoping and enduring as God does.
That is why Paul joins love with knowledge and discernment. Knowledge by itself can puff up and make a person proud, but love builds up. When love abounds, knowledge stays humble and useful. Love that grows in true knowledge of God and in clear discernment helps you to approve the things that are excellent, to choose what is best and not just what is allowable, so that you may be sincere and without blame until the day of Christ. It keeps you from being led astray by what is merely impressive and helps you walk in a way that is genuine before God.
And the fruit you are asking for is not produced by striving in your own strength. Paul says we are filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ. As you abide in Him and in His love, and as His love is made more complete in you, that fruit grows naturally and brings glory and praise to God, not to ourselves. His love for you is not earned and cannot be bought, and it cannot be quenched. As you come to know more of the height and depth of that love, which is greater than we can fully comprehend, your heart responds with increasing love for Him and for others.
We join you in this prayer, that the Lord would cause your love to keep abounding more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, that you would be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. May He keep you walking in that self giving love, building up others, and growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord.
Scripture speaks of different kinds of love. There is love on the physical level and love on the level of natural affection and friendship, which is often reciprocal and based on what draws us to another person. But the love Paul is praying for is agape, the divine, self giving love that comes from God alone. It is the love that gives without seeking return, the love God showed when He loved us before we loved Him and sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. That love is poured into our hearts through Jesus Christ, and it is greater than any spiritual gift. Gifts and even the special knowledge God may give for a moment are partial and will pass away, but this love remains. It is the greatest because it includes faith and hope within it, believing and hoping and enduring as God does.
That is why Paul joins love with knowledge and discernment. Knowledge by itself can puff up and make a person proud, but love builds up. When love abounds, knowledge stays humble and useful. Love that grows in true knowledge of God and in clear discernment helps you to approve the things that are excellent, to choose what is best and not just what is allowable, so that you may be sincere and without blame until the day of Christ. It keeps you from being led astray by what is merely impressive and helps you walk in a way that is genuine before God.
And the fruit you are asking for is not produced by striving in your own strength. Paul says we are filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ. As you abide in Him and in His love, and as His love is made more complete in you, that fruit grows naturally and brings glory and praise to God, not to ourselves. His love for you is not earned and cannot be bought, and it cannot be quenched. As you come to know more of the height and depth of that love, which is greater than we can fully comprehend, your heart responds with increasing love for Him and for others.
We join you in this prayer, that the Lord would cause your love to keep abounding more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, that you would be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. May He keep you walking in that self giving love, building up others, and growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord.
