Love, with an Abounding Love
Philippians 1:9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]aul does not pray that the Philippians would develop love but that the love which he had already observed in them and which he had been a recipient of, would abound more and more (1:5-8; 4:3, 10-20). His prayer was that the love he had already seen developing in them would grow and increase in its maturity. That it would become more and more like the love of Jesus Christ and that they would exercise it liberally.There is much confusion around the idea of love. Most of what passes as love in our culture is a shallow, superficial or sentimental love. Our culture is even guilty of confusing lust with love. The love which the Philippians possessed and which Paul prayed would abound was none of these things. It was a mature, Christlike love which was informed by the scriptures, in harmony with the truth and which enabled them to distinguish right from wrong. This is a far cry from our world’s idea of love. True love is not something you fall into but something you grow into, as you become more like the Lord Jesus Christ.The above is an excerpt from Pastor Rick's study through the book of Philippians