Increasing and Overflowing

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

INCREASING AND OVERFLOWING

1 Thess 3:12

12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

NIV

It would appear that it is not just enough to love everyone else, but that my love for them should always be increasing and always overflowing. The first thing I have to contend with is loving each of my fellow believers. What has to be dealt with is that in the natural we each have a personality and there are just some people who seem to clash with our personality and vice versa. That is sad that some of our fellow believers are more difficult to love than others. Yet, there is no wiggle room here when we are told that we should love each other. Jesus made it clear that the two greatest commandments were to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He also said that we should love each other as he has loved us. If I am going to follow Jesus then I have no other course of action other to love everyone all the same. This means I cannot show favoritism. Now, does that preclude my having a little group of special friends, a little clique? Is that showing more love for one than another? What it seems is that I am not to love just my fellow believers, each other spoken of here, but that I am to love everyone else. And again, it is not enough to just love them, but that my love should be increasing and overflowing. What does that look like? How do I demonstrate that kind of love, and the question is whether I do have that kind of love for everyone? I would think that if I have Christ in my heart that it would be a natural outflowing of his love for everyone. One problem is that I am an introvert and normally do not seek out being among people. Can I still love them, even though I enjoy or need alone time to recharge? An extrovert gains energy from being around people, but I am sapped of all my energy from being around people. My love for them should not be affected by my need to recharge. I can still love each of my fellow believers and everyone else. But, again the question is how is my love demonstrated to everyone? Is it doing something for them? Is it willing to lay my life down for them? It is just listening to them, being interested in what they are doing, or saying? Is it serving them in some way? Is it being an encouragement to them, exhorting them on in their spiritual as well as physical lives? I need to ponder on how I can love them more and more, increasing and overflowing in my love for them.