Abounding Love

Always enjoying life, dad shared the love of Jesus with everyone he could. 

Scripture

Philippians 1:9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight…

Observation

Paul’s prayer of intercession reveals his pastoral heart. He takes time to pray for his beloved church in Philippi. Of greatest concern is that their love would overflow. This is an abounding love that is lavished upon one another in the church community. They don’t lack love, but he sees this as a love that will continue to grow. Chrysostom put it this way, “There is no end to such love. Anyone who is loved so deeply, loved in this way, wishes to be loved all the more. There is no measure to love. One who loves and is loved in return does not wish that love to stop but to increase.” (HOMILY ON PHILIPPIANS 3.1.8–11.)

God’s holy love will provide the momentum for the Philippians to press onward in the direction of Christ, himself. This leads to participation in the divine nature which results in a saturation and all-encompassing of God’s wisdom and knowledge. In other words, Paul’s desire is that the church in Philippi will not only grow, but flourish in a nearness to God, and a reflection of Jesus’ character. 

Application

Paul’s letters are intended to be practical and his desire for the Philippians is that they are transformed in fruitful activity, and also in character. This knowledge of God is to be so all-encompassing that it transforms the every-day activities of life. This wasn’t just knowledge about God, this was full knowledge of God, only experienced in participation. 

I’ve spent much of the last week thinking about my earthly father. In the midst of this COVID crisis, he slipped away to be with his heavenly father. This hasn’t been an easy season because he lived in an assisted living facility. Because of the virus he had to be, as he put it, “locked-up” for the last seven weeks. My father had very poor eyesight and hearing the last few years of his life. We all worried about the sensory deprivation of being alone in his apartment, unable to walk down the hall to have dinner with friends. While we had phone calls he grew increasingly disoriented and less frequently out of bed. My father didn’t have COVID, but his death was certainly hurried as a result of the isolation that he experienced. It’s been difficult. 

While I will miss my father terribly and I grieve his loss, there is much about this passage from scripture which my father has brought to life for me. He was one of those who abounded with the love of God and worked hard throughout life to have a good attitude. Just two days before he passed we were talking to him on the phone. My husband asked him how he was doing and he responded, “fair.” He wasn’t going to give in to not being well — and so he mustered the most positive thing he could say — he was “fair.” We still have to chuckle at that response, because, that was dad, ever positive. 

What has been revealed to me this past week is how much his love abounded — not just for his family but for people all over the world. He worked at loving people and helping them to feel loved. The stories of him loving missionary kids, bringing them comic books, sneaking off for ice-cream, and lounging with a cold bottle of coke after a long and hot assembly have all brought a smile to my face. Over and over again people have told me how he made them feel loved. I don’t know how many have written and let us know that he was a father figure to them. 

Although I had known it before, this week brought into focus the deep love that my father had and how he had lived out this passage. His love overflowed and became the love of Jesus, touching the world. As I write this morning I just received another message — this one from the Netherlands. A pastor wrote, “Last Sunday we celebrated communion as a church during our online service and I talked a bit about Dr. Johnson and how all of us as a church are here because of him sharing the love of Jesus with people all over Europe. It is like Jesus breaking the bread and giving away pieces of Himself.” 

I believe this is the picture that the Apostle Paul had in mind. Our lives, filled to overflowing with the love of Jesus. God’s people, called to lavish the love of Christ on one another, in fruitful service to the kingdom. This is the abounding love to which we are all called.

Prayer

Lord, I pray that my life will be filled with your deep and abounding love. I’m grateful for a father who has been such a gracious example, but now I pray that the same love will overflow in my own life. Amen.