Campmeeting 2023 | Missionary-Evangelist Bob Patenaude Testimony & Stories

Abounding Love: The Product of Truth

The first plea of the apostle’s prayer is for “abounding love.” But this is not the sentimental, worldly love celebrated by Hollywood or the music industry. Biblical love does not stand alone; it is built upon two pillars: “knowledge and in all judgment.” Judgment here means discernment—the ability to understand what is truly happening around you. Without knowledge from the Word of God and spiritual discernment, what you have is not biblical love.

To understand this, we must turn to 1 Timothy 1:5: “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” Notice the order. Charity, or biblical love, is the

end product, not the starting point. You cannot truly love your neighbor or your family in a biblical way if you are not grounded in these other principles.

The foundation is “faith unfeigned.” This begins with a right understanding of the gospel—not just parroting the words, but truly grasping both the

necessity and the sufficiency of Christ’s work. The Holy Spirit must first convince a sinner of his desperate need for a Savior. Then, upon trusting Christ, that same Spirit must convince him that Christ’s death and resurrection are absolutely sufficient for his justification.

This unfeigned faith produces a “good conscience.” As Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 explain, when you believe right about the finished work of Christ, your conscience is cleansed. You are no longer under the misery of trying to earn favor with God. This good conscience, in turn, produces a “pure heart.” And it is only out of a pure heart that true, biblical charity can flow. So, when someone claims that all we need is love without any doctrine, you can show them from the Scripture that genuine love is the product of believing the right things.

From Root to Fruit

This abounding love, grounded in truth, develops in us the power to “approve the things that are excellent.” It gives us the spiritual resources to see truths in a more excellent and clear fashion through progressive revelation. This is the process that allows a believer to be “sincere” and to give no occasion for stumbling.

In Ephesians, Paul prayed that believers would be “rooted and grounded in love.” Now we see that this rooting and grounding is what produces the “fruits of righteousness” he speaks of here in Philippians. It is useless to expect the fruit without first having the root. When you study Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians together, you see this beautiful progression from the root of sound doctrine to the fruit of a righteous life.

The word “abound” itself suggests something that is over the top, running over, like a cup that “runneth over.” God’s abounding grace calls for our abounding love. However, for that love to reach the point where it overflows, we must sometimes receive a rebuke. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens. When God allows difficulty into your life, it is because He is for you and wants your love to abound even more. In those moments, we should thank Him, knowing that He is working to produce more fruit in us.

Campmeeting 2023 | Missionary-Evangelist Bob Patenaude Testimony & Stories

Related Topics

Share This Topic