Bible Verse of the Day Tuesday July 5th, 2022

Philippians 1:9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may 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.

It is two complete aspects, when you have love and when your love abounds. This word abound recalls a surplus or a state of overflowing, as well as more than enough or plentiful. Christian love is not something that can be gauged or measured; it is an all-or-nothing state of being. Christ Jesus described Christian love best through the apostle Paul, read 1 Corinthians 13. 

Paul doubles down on his adverbs here. He prays that your love will not only abound but abound more and more. If you stand at the ocean's edge and watch the power of the surf pounding the beach, there will be wave after wave hitting the bank that has never stopped and will never stop in this life. That’s the way our love should abound, wave after wave of love hitting the banks of our souls, never ceasing. 

We can gauge our spiritual growth and sanctification by how much we love the unlovable. There will always be people in our lives that are more challenging and demanding to love than others. Every person we meet will not have an equal attraction and charm to us. It may be their personality, nature, the way they dress, or just the way they live their lives. All of that must be neither here nor there because we do not love people for their sake or even our sake; it is for Jesus’ sake that we love. We can’t say we love our Lord and Savior unconditionally while at the same time not loving all people the same way.

Christian Love is fluid, it not only abounds but it continues to grow more and more each day, that we might move from a state of spiritual childhood to spiritual adulthood. 

True Christian, biblical love will take both aspects mentioned here by Paul, knowledge and depth of insight. The knowledge is found in the Word of God, and the depth of insight comes from a surrendered life to Christ Jesus, a close and personal relationship through prayer with God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and service to God and others.

Everything that comes from God, be it healings, miracles, love, grace, and mercy, comes to us for the sake of God through Christ Jesus, for His glory and praise. The lost souls of the world around us cannot comprehend or understand the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). The only way they, the lost of this world, will ever hear and understand a message from God is through His followers and believers. Most of the time, that sermon will be preached through how we live our lives. If our lives do not reflect love in its fullness, a Love for God and people, then we have become a stumbling block for someone that may be ready to accept Christ Jesus. Just so it does not slip our minds, God reminds us of this in several places in His Holy Word, below are just a few verses of remembrance (Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5).