Let Your Love Abound - ABOUND IN LOVE

 Jehovah expressed his great love for us by sending his Son to earth to die for our sins.   (Read 1 John 4:9, 10)  God's unselfish love moves us to love him. (Romans 5:8)  How much should we love God?  Jesus answered that question when he told a Pharisee: "You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind."  (Matthew 22:36, 37)   We do not want our love for God to be half-hearted.  Rather, we want our love for him to grow stronger each day.  Paul told the Philippians that their love should  "abound still more and more." What can we do to strengthen our love for God?

We need to know God in order to love him.  The Bible says: "Whoever does not love  has not come to know God. because God is love." (1 John 4:8)   The apostle Paul indicated that our love for God would grow stronger as we gain "
accurate knowledge and full discernment" of Him."  (Philippians 1:9)  When we first studied the Bible, we developed love for God based on a limited knowledge of his wonderful  qualities.  Then the more we learned about Jehovah, the stronger our love for him became.  No wonder we view regular Bible study and meditation on God's Word as being among the most important things in our life! - PHILIPPIANS 2:16. 

God's great love for us will move us to love our brothers.  (Read 1 John 4:11, 20, 21.)   We might think that love for our brothers and sisters will come naturally.  After all, we worship Jehovah and strive to imitate his fine qualities.  We follow the example of Jesus, whose love was so great that he gave his life in our behalf. Yet, we may at times find it difficult to obey the commandment to love one another.  Consider an example in the Philippian congregation.

Euodia and Syntyche were zealous sisters who had served "side by side" with the apostle Paul.  Yet, they had perhaps allowed personal differences to cause a a rift between them.  In his letter to the congregation where those sisters served, Paul specifically named Euodia and Syntyche and gave them pointed admonition "to be of the same mind."  (Philippians 4:2, 3)  Paul felt compelled to instruct the entire congregation:  "Keep doing all things free from murmuring and arguments." (Philippians 2:14)  No doubt Paul's straightforward counsel helped  not only these loyal sisters but also the entire congregation to strengthen their bond of love for one another.

 Like Euodia and Syntyche, we may face a major obstacle in cultivating a close bond of love with others-the tendency to focus on  imperfections.  All of us make mistakes every day.  If we stay focused on the imperfections of others, we may become irritated.  If we then begin to list all the other mistakes we know our brother has made, our irritation will grow and our love for him will diminish.  IF you find yourself in a similar situation,  it would be good to reflect on this face: Jehovah sees our imperfections as well as those of our brother.  Yet, in spite of these imperfections, he still loves our brother and he still loves us.  For that reason, we need to imitate Jehovah's love and keep a positive view of our brothers.  When we work hard to love our brothers, we strengthen our bond of unity with them. - PHILIPPIANS 2:1, 2.

Next time: Let Your Love Abound - 'THE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS"

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