The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Abounding Love"
"The love of God 'shed abroad in our hearts' becomes the love of God shed forth from our hearts as we grow in the wonder of His personal devotion to us, and to all."
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment" (Philippians 1:9).
How do born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ grow in the knowledge of God's love, and the wise response that leads to it abounding in our hearts and lives? The primary answer lies in how such love became resident in us to begin with.
"We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).
Had God not so loved us, first by giving the Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill His redeeming work on the cross of Calvary, and then by working in our hearts to draw us to Himself by the Holy Spirit, we would never have trusted the Savior. Nor would have He indwelt our hearts to become the Life of our lives. Thereby, "He first loved us." Thereby, He continues His work to reveal the love of Christ unto and within us as we fulfill our role of response to our Heavenly Father's working.
"He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ… we are His workmanship" (Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 2:10).
Such grace makes possible our growth in devotion to God and people as the love we receive moves within us, and then outward from us. Yes, the love of God "shed abroad in our hearts" becomes the love of God shed forth from our hearts as we grow in the wonder of His personal devotion to us, and to all (Romans 5:5).
Regarding our love for people, as one said long ago, "If God loves me, then He most surely loves thee." The believer cannot long walk in resentment or bitterness who grows in the knowledge of how much grace he has himself received from God. Or, that he continues to receive. As the Lord's parable of the debtors confirms, we must perceive ourselves as having been forgiven for far more than others because no matter how another may have fallen, we know our own sins far better than anyone else's (Matthew 18:23-29). We have lived our lifetime with ourselves. Thus, the closet in which our skeletons reside looms far nearer than any other.
We do well to remember how personally and undeservedly good our Lord has been to us, and how He continues to lavish such grace upon us. Thereby, we respond in love for the One so worthy of our devotion, and for the people He calls us to love for the glory and revelation of the Lord Jesus. "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor" (Ephesians 5:2). Upon this basis of our commitment to love as we have been loved, "knowledge and all judgment" in how to love God and others becomes far more known and applied in our lives. With God, we are ever responders to His presence and working, a truth most vital to be remembered concerning the greatest calling of our existence…
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
(Mark 12:30-31)
Weekly Memory Verse
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment."
(Philippians 1:9)
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