Increasing Love

1 Thessalonians 3:12 “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” 

I've been going through 1 Thessalonians this week, and when I came across this verse the word 'increase' popped out at me. Why so? It is a reminder to me that for us to love is not a discrete on/off function. To love someone isn't simply a yes or no action. As people we are inherently imperfect, and the sin in us creeps into the way we show love to others. We cannot love everyone with the Father's unconditional expression. We cannot love everyone in the same marvellous, selfless and pure way that God loves. However, as we grow in our relationship with Him, and as we become more receptive to God revealing His love to us - deep in our hearts in the clichest yet truest of ways, we feel the love of the Lord gently flow, the Father's love "increasing" in us. And we are then able to express love in a purer, more Godly manner.

This pure love first flows from little tributaries, gently ebbing within the closed banks of our feeling hearts. And then this pure love enters a river of the heart, refreshing, cleansing, eroding away the impurities and selfishness like dirt and muck from the riverbanks. From the river to the estuary, this pure love gushes in increasing currents, until the ocean of the heart moves with waves and tides of the Father's pure love. Back in the rivers, the Father's love continues to increase, until it overflows and floods the land, soaking the soil in refreshing, rejuvenating, matchless love. Our hearts are increasingly freshened by His Perfect Love.

As we receive God's love and it becomes increasingly real in our lives, so it soon overflows the banks of our hearts, and from the tiding ocean of love within us we let it pour out unto others. We love others in a stronger, less superficial, way than we were previously capable of. For it is by God's grace that we know His love, and show His love unto others. 

Therefore our love should increase as our walk with God becomes closer, tighter and stronger. From knowing the Lord better, from receiving the embrace of the Father in a manner more real to us, our love should increase for others around us too. Love isn't an on-off function. It isn't a question of whether I do love a person, or I do not. In our imperfection we enjoy the sole source of Perfect Love - that is, the Father. And in our imperfection we learn, from knowing God, to express love to those around us in an increasingly pure way. 

Other thoughts about love? When we love others it shouldn't only be a question of being 'nice', doing 'nice' things, being fun and friendly. When we love others from the overflow of the Father's love, with our love for God at the centre of it all, we ultimately show love to others by showing them the light of Christ. It is by showing them the way, the truth and the life. This means that when we are generous, encouraging and supportive, ultimately it is to bring glory to God. 

We can share the Gospel to them, disciple them, walk closely with them to show them the Light of the world. Then we can expand God's family and further His Kingdom. As we see in Matthew 5:16 reminding us of our goal to glorify Him: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Even if we never get the chance to share the Good News with them, just showing them love encourages them and brings them joy; hopefully one day they may come to know Christ, giving thanks to Him even for the things you've done for them in the past. This overflow of thanksgiving is to the glory of God; Paul writes about generosity in 2 Corinthians 9:11; "You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." When we show love to others, at the centre of everything should be our love for the Father. Then we are empowered to love in a way that increasingly resembles the Father's blameless and selfless love. And the glory at the end of the day all goes back to the Loving God.

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