“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
—1 John 4:7

Reflection

Perhaps you’ve heard stories about people whose parents were loving to everyone outside the home but showed no love behind closed doors. Maybe that is how you grew up. Perhaps you had parents who were courteous to the neighbors and those in the community but harsh to their spouse or children.

One way we can gauge how we’re growing in love is by asking ourselves how we are relating to the people we’re closest to: our spouses, children, parents, and coworkers.

The enemy always wants to bring division, and he often targets the relationships that are most important to us. He puts accusing thoughts in our minds toward those who are strategically placed in our lives to be a blessing to us and to help us grow in grace. The enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to keep us from building the kingdom, and the best way to do that is to keep us from walking in love.

Think about the fact that Paul prayed that our love “may abound still more and more” (Philippians 1:9). Why the double more? It’s because as you and I grow in love, we’re actually releasing the love of God through our lives into the earth and being brought into a deeper encounter with Him, because God is love.

It’s kind of like this. A body of water that has no outlet will become foul and polluted, but a body of water that has a channel to flow out of is going to stay clean and pure.

In a similar way, we can’t be who God desires us to be unless we have a river flowing through our lives that is causing us to express the love of God being imparted to us. Love by definition must have an object. If we’re not loving people, then we’re not walking in the love of God as He desires.

I know some people find it easier to love than others do. Many men, for instance, find it hard to express love because they think it shows weakness. In some homes, it was considered unmanly to show affection, so the men never hugged anyone. They never said, ‘I love you’.

But look at Yeshua. When He saw the people grieving around Lazarus’ tomb, Messiah cared so much that He wept openly, allowing those nearby to see how much He loved them (John 11:33–36).

At the last Passover meal Jesus celebrated with His disciples before going to the cross, John leaned his head on Yeshua’s chest (John 13:23). Think of how comfortable John must have been with Jesus to express that kind of affection.

Beloved, we never want to get to a place where we stop growing in love. The love of God is endless. It’s like walking into the ocean and the water keeps getting deeper and deeper and is never exhausted.

Because we’re created in Father’s likeness and are members of the body of Yeshua, the Lord wants His inexhaustible love to keep expanding and growing in and through our lives.

Application

• Consider how you express love toward the people closest to you. Are you allowing God’s love to flow through your words, attitudes, and actions?
• Ask Father to expose accusing thoughts or attitudes that create division in your relationships. Choose to express love rather than withhold it.

Prayer

Father God, I ask You to cause my love to abound still more and more. Help me to recognize the relationships You have placed in my life and to love those closest to me as You desire. Remove the accusing thoughts and attitudes that keep me from walking in love. Let Your love flow through my life like a river, bringing me into a deeper encounter with You. Teach me to love as Yeshua loves, without fear or hesitation, so that Your inexhaustible love will continue to grow in and through me. In Yeshua’s name, amen.