August 9, 2024 INCREASE AND ABOUND
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.”
To love and to grow in love is of God. We cannot conjure up the love that comes from God. It was Paul’s prayer that the ‘Lord would cause us to increase and abound in love.’ If we know Jesus as our Savior, then there Is a desire to increase and grow in love. Because we are in Christ and He is at work in us, then we must be pursuing what He is doing in us-and that is, transforming us to His own image. So, as Christ loved, so are we to love. The worldly love, the love that is not of God, is a selfish love; the love that God works in us is an unselfish love. Someone said that if we do not have the best interest in our hearts for another, then we do not love that person. There is a reason and a motivation for the love of God to be abounding and increasing in us; when the love of God is expressed in and through us, He will establish us unblamable in holiness when He returns. For that reason, we must not take lightly the call of God to grow and increase in love. There is no time to coast in our walk with the Lord; God has a purpose, and a big part of that purpose is transforming us into His own image! It should be our deepest and greatest desire to work out what God is working in us and cooperate with Him as He transforms us into His image. As alluded to above, we cannot work up the love of God; however, becasue we have been made new creations and have been given the Holy Spirit, we can experience God’s love and we can be expressions of His love to all. It’s a serious issue; only by God’s love abounding and increasing in us will we be found unblamable in holiness when He returns-and His love brings blessing in the present. So the Lord causes love to abound and increase, but we have a part in responding to what He is doing.
1 John 4:8-9,12 “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” “No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
Blessings,
Buddy
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.”
To love and to grow in love is of God. We cannot conjure up the love that comes from God. It was Paul’s prayer that the ‘Lord would cause us to increase and abound in love.’ If we know Jesus as our Savior, then there Is a desire to increase and grow in love. Because we are in Christ and He is at work in us, then we must be pursuing what He is doing in us-and that is, transforming us to His own image. So, as Christ loved, so are we to love. The worldly love, the love that is not of God, is a selfish love; the love that God works in us is an unselfish love. Someone said that if we do not have the best interest in our hearts for another, then we do not love that person. There is a reason and a motivation for the love of God to be abounding and increasing in us; when the love of God is expressed in and through us, He will establish us unblamable in holiness when He returns. For that reason, we must not take lightly the call of God to grow and increase in love. There is no time to coast in our walk with the Lord; God has a purpose, and a big part of that purpose is transforming us into His own image! It should be our deepest and greatest desire to work out what God is working in us and cooperate with Him as He transforms us into His image. As alluded to above, we cannot work up the love of God; however, becasue we have been made new creations and have been given the Holy Spirit, we can experience God’s love and we can be expressions of His love to all. It’s a serious issue; only by God’s love abounding and increasing in us will we be found unblamable in holiness when He returns-and His love brings blessing in the present. So the Lord causes love to abound and increase, but we have a part in responding to what He is doing.
1 John 4:8-9,12 “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” “No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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