"And this I pray: that your love may abound more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight [that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment]...." (Philippians 1:9)
Darby's says, "in full knowledge and all intelligence."
There are passages in the Gospels which record Words of Jesus which do not seem "loving" to the, what Mumford has called, the "sloppy agape" people, yet they are, "in full knowledge and all intelligence." For example, in Matthew 17 we read, "And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 'Lord, have mercy on my son....I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.' Then Jesus answered and said, 'O faithless and perverse ('to distort, misinterpret, corrupt') generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.'" This is Jesus Christ. This is not some misinterpretation of Jesus. To say to the man or the disciples, "O well, that's okay. I understand your weakness. Let me do something now," would not be love, the giving Love of the Godhead, the love which brings you and me into Himself rather than comforting me in my self; it would be nothing but flattery.
I am so thankful, at least we all ought to be, that our Lord Jesus does not "love" us with flattery, a sort of, "there-there-your-okay" false love devoid of, "full knowledge...." Personally, I am thankful for His Love which has, over the years, even said, "How long...." What Jesus spoke to my heart so many years ago, "You can sit here the rest of your life and pity yourself. Or, you can get up and follow Me," it was nothing but pure, "Agape."
I pray for those who have quit in their walk in Jesus, those for whom their expectations and desires were not met, those who succumbed to the lie that "God does not love me." It is the, 'distort, misinterpret,' of the Matthew 17 text. May you and I realize today that our text gives us a "weapon" with which to combat this. It is, "Agape," the Love in Jesus Christ which is found only in, "greater depth of acquaintance...," in Jesus Christ Himself.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank You for Your, "Agape." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
