This I pray, that your love may abound.....Phillippians 1 : 9
I suspect that Bishop Moule is right when he takes the position that the phrase, 'that your love may abound more and more' signifies that the people who have experienced the love of God in Christ, and are responding to it, must allow that responce to not only rise up to the Lord Jesus, but also to go out to their fellow Christians.
If you really love the Lord you will love those whom Jesus loves. And Paul says, "I am praying for that in your experience, that your love may abound more and more".
The word 'abound' is interesting. Its meaning is similar to the Latin word from which we get our English word 'abound'. It literally means 'wave after wave': it is an oceanic thing. Paul says 'Dont dole out your love to your brothers and sisters in parsimonious pinches! Let that love cascade out! That is what he is praying for. That your love may abound, wave after wave; and not only towards the source of all love, the Lord Jesus, but towards others who, like you are undeserving of His love also.
But the petition has an implication. Before love can abound it must first abide. You cannot grow in the love of God, that is love in the Christian sense unless the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart, as Paul has it in Romans 5, "by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us" We cannot pump this up, or generate it by self effort.
We need to maintain a disciplined attitude, and a disciplined spirit, in order that the Spirit of God may increase our range and enrich the expression of Christ's love in us towards others ; the implication is that it will never abound until it is first abiding. It must be a gift before it can be a growth.
I suspect that Bishop Moule is right when he takes the position that the phrase, 'that your love may abound more and more' signifies that the people who have experienced the love of God in Christ, and are responding to it, must allow that responce to not only rise up to the Lord Jesus, but also to go out to their fellow Christians.
If you really love the Lord you will love those whom Jesus loves. And Paul says, "I am praying for that in your experience, that your love may abound more and more".
The word 'abound' is interesting. Its meaning is similar to the Latin word from which we get our English word 'abound'. It literally means 'wave after wave': it is an oceanic thing. Paul says 'Dont dole out your love to your brothers and sisters in parsimonious pinches! Let that love cascade out! That is what he is praying for. That your love may abound, wave after wave; and not only towards the source of all love, the Lord Jesus, but towards others who, like you are undeserving of His love also.
But the petition has an implication. Before love can abound it must first abide. You cannot grow in the love of God, that is love in the Christian sense unless the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart, as Paul has it in Romans 5, "by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us" We cannot pump this up, or generate it by self effort.
We need to maintain a disciplined attitude, and a disciplined spirit, in order that the Spirit of God may increase our range and enrich the expression of Christ's love in us towards others ; the implication is that it will never abound until it is first abiding. It must be a gift before it can be a growth.
