"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, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." (Phil. 1:9-11)
A lot of times it is hard to keep the perspective that learning what it means to love is pointless without the purpose of bringing Jesus Christ glory. I want to love others and be gracious and merciful, but not so that it brings others warm and fuzzy feelings. No, the purpose of my love for others is to reflect the love that Christ has for them and to ultimately bring Him glory.
It's the same with all of the fruits of the Spirit. I don't have joy or peace in order to make it through this life with a smile on my face, it all boils down to thirsting after the glory of Christ. Longing to see more of Him in my relationships with others, and less of my own selfishness.
When my prayer life has become stagnant and I read these words in Philippians, I wonder if it's because my eyes have lowered to my glory rather than Christ? It's like the purpose of prayer has become fuzzy and I've morphed it into what I think it should be, rather than how God originally designed it.
So, like Paul it is my prayer that we all be challenged today to look at prayer through the lens of God's word and learn what it means to truly love, so we can bring Christ the glory that He deserves.
Brandy
