Paul is writing from prison to a loving and giving church. Yet in his prayer for them, he is praying that their love may abound more and more. I don't believe that he is implying that their love is in any way deficient; but rather that one should never be satisfied with their state of growth however advanced it might be. Paul also desires to add direction and purpose to the growth. He is concerned with daily discernment in their Christian walk and their spiritual condition on Christ's return. Their love is to abound in knowledge and depth of in-sight. Let me offer an illustration that is certainly far from the realm of love but may help to get the point across. Let's say that you have a machine gun and are firing at the enemy. You don't see them, but you assume if you fire enough rounds in their direction, more or less randomly, that you'll accomplish your mission. You may accomplish it, but certainly with a lot of wasted effort. If you could see the enemy or at least had good intelligence as to exactly where they were, you would have far better results. In the same way, just exuding buckets of gooey love in all directions does not produce effective kingdom growth. If I want the love of Christ in me to have the greatest impact, I need knowledge and in-sight. Love is not only a decision, but an acted-on decision. Just as medication has an ideal route of entry into the body (pill, inhalation, injection, etc.), so also love is not just projecting warm feelings. Love cam be expressed in smiles, kind words, spending time, helpful council, money, etc. Job's friends did not have knowledge or depth of insight in their response to Job. To be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ can only happen when we live a life of showing God's love, in God's way, in God's time, as He provides the opportunity.

Living Fruit Filed Lives