Ten Steps to Your Best Life by Brent Crowe Намуна

DAY 3 - Love: Live by Choosing Love Daily 

A life worth living cultivates a growing love. Other translations read: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. …” To fully grasp the reason and the meaning of a love that “will keep on growing,” we need first to understand the historical events surrounding Paul’s letter to the Philippians. 

Philippi had been re-founded as a Roman colony following the battle of Actium in 31 BC. This essentially meant that the conquering army could now colonize Philippi, making it their home while enjoying all the benefits of citizenship in the Roman Empire. Those who had previously lived in Philippi would now enjoy fewer privileges and were no longer citizens in their homeland. As one could imagine, this caused a sense of divide that would only grow with time. Fast forward several generations, and Paul is writing to a polarized culture with two primary groups in it that strongly disliked each other. 

Paul was keenly aware of Jesus’ teaching to “love your enemies” in Matthew 5:43-48. This is probably why Paul uses the same term for love that Jesus did when teaching the Philippian believers how to interact with one another. The term for love, agape, is the most common one used in the New Testament. It can be understood as a sacrificial and selfless disposition toward others motivated by the example of Jesus. It was this kind of love that would ultimately cause enemies to become family. 

Paul also teaches that this type of love should be “growing” or “abound more and more.” In other words, when Jesus is the model for how we love, we will never stop loving. A love abounding more and more means:  

• The more I love, the more capacity I have to love. 
• The more capacity I have to love, the more I will see opportunities around me to love.

Notice that Paul didn’t take sides in the historical and ethical dilemma concerning citizenship and the past. He simply taught them the way forward would be to love as God loves. Following the groundwork of this prayer, he would then teach them to treat one another “as citizens of heaven, [and to] live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27). 

What can we take away from all of this? When we follow the example of Jesus, we can cultivate a growing love. A love that abounds more and more can cause even enemies to become family so that redeemed persons loving well can operate as citizens of heaven on earth. In other words, we learn to live by choosing love. 

What now?  

• What steps do you need to take to cultivate a love that is abounding more and more?