Growing Love (2 Thess. 1:3b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/15/2014 10:03 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  Growing Love

Bible Reading & Meditation                                          Reference:  2 Thessalonians 1:3b

            Message of the verses:  “and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater;”

            After studying the first letter that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians we learned that Paul commended them for their love for each other, but then he wrote that his desire for that love to continue to grow “and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;”  We must remember that this was a very new church and this church was under persecution, but the persecution seemed to cause the congregation to grow in their love for each other.  John MacArthur writes “Love permeated the entire congregation despite the persecution.”

            Now living in the United States for all of my life, with just a six month stay in Aruba, I have learned that the meaning for love is surely not the Biblical kind of love, but it can be a fuzzy kind of love.  For instance a person can say that they love baked beans, and then say that they love their wife and so we can see from these two statements that it would be hoped that their love for their wife would be a different kind of love than their love for baked beans.  John 3:16 is a very famous verse which says “"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  I think the important phrase in this verse that speaks of God’s kind of love is “He gave.”  God loved the world so much that He would send His only begotten Son into the world to become a man, that is He gave His Son, and He gave His Son to become a man in order for Him to take the place of all those would believe in Him, by dying on the cross for their sins so that they could have am eternal relationship with God.  That is what God’s agape love is all about, He gave.  Now as for these Thessalonians they had accepted the forgiveness that was available in Christ and they were fulfilling what Jesus told His disciples in John 13:34-35 “34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."”

            Jesus gave the example by loving us so much that He took our place on the cross, and now we are to pass that example onto each other so that the world will see our love for each other and then wonder what that is all about and perhaps ask us why we do this and then we can tell them to story of how the Lord loves us so much that He died in our place, and then perhaps they will want to have the forgiveness that only Christ offers.  Paul writes the following to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians to show that he knew that they understood what this love was all about “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;” He goes on to write in verse ten “for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more,” They were doing a good job, but he wanted them to continue to grow in their love for one another.

            John MacArthur writes “Increasing faith in God and love for others are essential elements of the redeemed nature (2 Cor. 8:7; Gal. 5:6; Eph. 1:15; 6:23).  To Paul’s immense joy and satisfaction, they were evident in this church.”  I pray that they are evident in my life, and the lives of those in my family, and church family.

            We must remember that God loved us before we were His own, and so He didn’t love us because we were going to do something to deserve His love, and this is how we are to love others. 

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:7-11).”