Issue 11 - Day 1

Philippians 1

Philippians 1:9-11
9)  And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
10)  That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
11)  Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Are you full of love, knowledge and good judgement? Can you easily see what is excellent and do those things? Are you sincere, giving offence to no-one? These are just a few of the fruits of righteousness, and all are to the glory and praise of God.

There is a way of thinking known as the “scarcity view”. to this mind there is a limited supply of everything, and therefore care must be taken in sharing it out. This works fine for some things. If you have four apples and share them evenly between two people how many apples do they each get. If the four apples were instead shared between eight people how many would each get. With apples it works. There are some societies where they apply the same logic to concepts such as love. If you have four children then they must each get a quarter of the love you could have given to one. Fortunately, while your time, money and possessions may be limited and therefore would be spread more thinly, love does not work like this, or it should not. God’s love certainly does not, it knows now end.

Pray that you will be totally filled with the fruits of righteousness. Ask God to give you more of his love, and to be able to see others as he sees them. Seek God’s wisdom. God can give us good judgement, wisdom and understanding, if we seek first his kingdom and righteousness.