There is not a better prayer that we can pray for our friends than the increase of the love of God, the queen of the graces. In other places Paul identifies love as the fulfilment of the law (Romans 13:10), the aim of the gospel (1 Timothy 1:5), and that which binds everything together in harmony (Colossians 3:14). He says in 1 Corinthians 13 that without love we are nothing. The love that Paul prays for here is not a blind love; it is informed, but it is also sensitive (“in all knowledge and discernment”). It is discerning and inoffensive. This love is not static or sealed in concrete; it is not fixed in a pharisaic form of religion. This love is fluid; it is conciliatory and melts into every situation in life, negotiates with circumstances without compromising the truth. Paul prays for this type of love because it is rare. It is a divine gift that is received alone through communion with the giver.
Reading: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”—Philippians 1:9–11
Leave A Comment