Good Morning Friends,
“And this is my prayer: that your love may
abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able
to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ -- to
the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)
Have you ever thought about what spiritual
maturity would look like in your life? Paul’s prayer for the Philippians
describes it well! The more this prayer is fulfilled in your life, the greater
level of spiritual maturity you will have reached.
Maturity is found in deeper love.
That’s what Jesus said when He spoke about the
two greatest commandments: to love God and to love one another. And then He
said that all of the Law and the Prophets hang on those two commands. (Matthew
22:36-40)
That’s what Paul meant when he said if you love
others you have fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8) and that the entire law is
summed up in the single command to love your neighbor. (Galatians 5:14)
The extent that we have grown to love God and
to love those around us is the extent to which we have reached spiritual
maturity. The result of deeper love is a clearer understanding of God’s will
(being able to discern what is best) and a more fruitful spiritual life.
By the way, love is not an emotion. It is a set
of behaviors. It is putting the needs and desires of someone else ahead of your
own. It is doing what is best for someone else, no matter what it costs you.
Pursue sincere, truly unselfish love, and you
will be pursuing maturity.
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment