Abounding Love and Insight

This morning I was meditating on Phil. 1:9-11:

9 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."


What a rich sentence and rich prayer. I want to break it down and look at this more fully.


Love abounding more and more in knowledge and depth of insight...


- love coupled with wisdom and knowledge
- love that has a maturity and seasoning
- love that knows Christ well, understands His ways and heart
- love that understands those around you, having empathy and understanding


Which leads to the ability to discern what is best...


- with this increased love, comes increased responsibility
- what to embrace, what to bless, what to release
- the ability to see true value and worth
- seeing the true worth in a person, their true heart
- I think of Jesus and Levi or Zaccheus


And helps me be pure and blameless...


- love becomes the filter for my actions
- love for Christ and love for others rather than self
- love checks my motivations
- love helps me set my priorities
- coupled with wisdom, knowledge and discernment, I am able to rightly order my life and actions


And filled with the fruit of Jesus' righteousness which He gives me...


- of right standing with God and right doing (Amplified Bible)
- the fruit of right standing is access and authority - right place at the right time
- not the result of my actions, but a gift
- my right actions are possible because of the gift, not the other way around
- fruit of this is seeing God work through me
- forgiveness of sins
- right relationship with the Father


Lord, what an awesome prayer. I ask Lord that You would bring this prayer to fullness in my life. I want to abound in love and knowledge and insight of You. I want to rightly see myself and others, understanding Your ways, and setting the priorities of my life correctly. I want to experience the fruit of Your righteousness more fully in my daily walk - being Your true representative.