Scripture

May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.

Observation

Paul thanks God for the church at Thessalonica. They give him great joy whenever he prays, day or night.

Paul prays that the Lord will bring him to them soon. He prays that the Lord will cause their love for one another to increase and overflow. May their hearts be strong, blameless and holy.

Application

Paul’s prayer for the church of Thessalonica is that the Lord will make their love for one another and for other people to increase and overflow.

The hallmark of any true christian community should be love. God is love, so His followers should be growing in love for one another and for people outside the community of faith.

There is a sense in which love is commanded, and is therefore something we can do. “Love one another as I have loved you,” is the new commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples.

But equally, love is a part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Love comes as a natural result of living in the Spirit.

Sometimes we find ourselves growing in love without any thought or action on our part. Other times, the Holy Spirit convicts us of attitudes or actions which might need to change.

The true christians community will be marked by three loves – love for God, love for other christians, and love for unbelievers.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the grace to love other people. Please grow this in me so that, like Paul, I overflow in your love. Amen.