Dear Church Family,
Greetings to you in Christ’s name! As I mentioned yesterday, it was so great to be together on Sunday. With each passing week, those occasions seem to mean more and more.
The session will be meeting tonight, and we will be looking at all that lies ahead and trying to determine the best course, so please be praying for us. We need a great deal of wisdom, faith and guidance from the Lord.
Sunday mornings at our house have changed quite a bit as we rearrange furniture, set up equipment and try to be sure all is working as it should. I really appreciate your patience when glitches appear. Sometimes they are things we can fix, and at other times they are mysterious things that we cannot track down.
As we continue to pray for one another, there are a few things that we can reflect on. If we look to Philippians 1, we find Paul saying this…
Philippians 1:9-11 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Wherever love is found among believers, there is always room for its increase. Here Paul’s prayer is that it may abound more and more! But what exactly is the nature of the love Paul refers to here? It is a love for all that represents Christ and His work on earth—His people and His cause—as Eadie puts it.
This is that affection which is born of the Holy Spirit and brings together the hearts of believers. It is the love that causes us to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who mourn as brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the spirit of love which compels us to add what we can to every work of the Gospel when we learn of it, even if it is limited to our prayers and goodwill for the work. It is the love for Christ and His work which moves us to defend God’s Word and to confirm it by the testimony of our witness for Christ.
The prayer is that this love would grow and abound. If you have ever dropped a Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke, you know that the result is exciting. The Coke sends a geyser into the air as a result of a basic chemical reaction.
Paul’s prayer, and one that we too can take up, is that the Lord would work in us, by His Spirit, so that our love for all that is a part of Christ and His Kingdom might be loved more and more by each of us. As God answers that prayer, for His Son’s sake, you and I will find that not only will we have a more intense and smarter love for one another, but for the Church and its work in every place.
We will look at this some more tomorrow, but I hope it encourages you in your prayers for one another.
Look up, my soul, with cheerful eye,
See where the great Redeemer stands,
The glorious Advocate on high,
– With precious incense in his hands!
He sweetens every humble groan,
He recommends each broken prayer;
The softest call before his throne,
May rise and find acceptance there.
–STEELE
