| “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more…” |
| —Philippians 1:9a |
News reporters have frequently asked many celebrities this question: “How do you view the world?” It’s a question that can evoke a softball kind of answer, all bubble gum and kitty cats. Or, on rarer occasions, this question can elicit a deeper-than-usual response from people that—to those of us who have to struggle our way through each day—often appear rather shallow.
It is a question worth considering, especially for those of us who acknowledge that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Lord of our lives: “How do we view the world?”
The Apostle Paul urged the Christians gathered in the church at Philippi to view the world in a very Christ-like way, as he wrote these words recorded in Philippians 1:9-10:
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 for the day of Christ…
Please allow me to share this true illustration:
A few months ago, a dear friend—a fellow believer for whom I have the highest possible amount of respect—posted a scientific article on the recent eclipse of the moon. It was an informative, interesting, and refreshing article.
My response to the article—and the response of at least two others who commented on Facebook—was to give glory to God for His amazing creativity. It was a truthful and even light-heartedly delivered response coming out of the great appreciation I felt for God, even though the author of the article had said nothing about God and dealt only with a scientific analysis of the eclipse. To me, the scientific evidence simply pointed to the One who had created all things.
Immediately, yet another commenter took the three of us God-honoring commenters to task for our ignorant and ill-informed belief in God. Instead of my more typical feelings of anger, I surprised myself by feeling sadness that this individual did not yet know the God who has created and sustained all things. Apparently, I was not alone.
One of the others who posted similarly to the way I had posted tried to engage this negative one in a bit of an on-line conversation. He did so in a very loving way. I was very proud of the way he tried to gently engage the negative person in the kind of dialogue that might open the negative one’s eyes to the glory of God.
Suddenly, I realized that this is what Paul meant in the passage above. This one, who so lovingly engaged someone who had written a rather harsh comment about him, was allowing the love of God to “abound more and more.”
I, for one, intend to remember this example as I make my way through this new day. You see, in order to make the best choices for our lives, we must exercise a good deal of God-given discernment. But, the lens through which we simply must see the world is a lens of God-breathed love. As we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us more and more into the depth of God’s mercy, grace, and love, we begin to see the world through our Father’s eyes.
Here at the start of another new day, it is my prayer for us that we will open our hearts and minds more and more to the love that God desires to give us. As we abound more and more in that love, we will see the world around us as God sees it. We will see people in need. We will see people mired in sin. We will see the way in which we, as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, can bring God’s love into every interaction we have with people in the world who may not yet know Him.
Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, November 18, 2016
