Abound in Love
Love is the one thing that most people want, but few people really understand. Often, what we mean by love is a selfish desire for another person to meet our needs. It is something we have for some people just because of how that person looks or what they can do. That is not true love at all. God is love, so if we want to know real love, we have to examine His type of love. If we want to have it, we have to get it from Him by being born again when we trust Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then, we can grow in love and even abound in love. (I Thessalonians 3:12) That is what Paul encouraged the Christians in Thessalonica to do, and it is God's will for us, too.
We have to give ourselves to the Lord fully, so He can work in us and through us. Then, He can cause us to increase and abound in love. First of all, that love is for other believers, since they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, we can have an extra close love that comes from both of us knowing the Lord and having real koinonia fellowship with God and other believers. However, we are to increase and abound in love for all people, not just believers. That is godly love. Jesus loved everyone in the world so much that He gave His life for all people who ever had lived or ever would live. When we grow in God's love, we will love all people, the easy ones and the hard ones to love. I am sure we all know people who have this type of love, and like Paul told the Christians of Thessalonica, we can imitate that love we see in them by the power of the Spirit. Then, we truly know love and we are abounding in that love.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Thessalonians 4-5 and II Thessalonians 1.
We have to give ourselves to the Lord fully, so He can work in us and through us. Then, He can cause us to increase and abound in love. First of all, that love is for other believers, since they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Therefore, we can have an extra close love that comes from both of us knowing the Lord and having real koinonia fellowship with God and other believers. However, we are to increase and abound in love for all people, not just believers. That is godly love. Jesus loved everyone in the world so much that He gave His life for all people who ever had lived or ever would live. When we grow in God's love, we will love all people, the easy ones and the hard ones to love. I am sure we all know people who have this type of love, and like Paul told the Christians of Thessalonica, we can imitate that love we see in them by the power of the Spirit. Then, we truly know love and we are abounding in that love.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Thessalonians 4-5 and II Thessalonians 1.