Why Do I Need More Love?

But more is required; Paul also prays for us to be “blameless,” literally, “without offense.” The idea (certainly) includes our not offending God. But that was mostly covered with the word “pure.” As a result, most Bible students believe that Paul is asking God that we neither take nor cause offense.

Matthew Henry (for example) says the Philippians are to be “an inoffensive people, not apt to take offence, and very careful not to give offence to God or their brethren, to live in all good conscience before God (Acts 23.1; 24.16).”

So if we pull this together, Paul is praying that we would trust and love God enough to admit our need for his grace (not covering up our cracks) and trust and love God in such a way as to open ourselves to receive his purifying Spirit (becoming blameless) and so not offending one another with ungodly attitudes and behaviors.

Stated in a simple summary, Paul prays that we progress in godliness. Is the fruit of the Holy Spirit evident in our lives? Can my spouse or closest friends or parents see progress in behavior, and motives, and attitudes? Are we growing in Christ-likeness? Am I more godly today than last year, more able to overlook offenses and less a cause of offense. These are the necessary result of abounding love directed by the twin rails of knowledge and discernment. And this is the path to joy for all who know and love God.

2. True Joy Requires the Fruit of Union with Christ (Philippians 1.11a)

Philippians 1.11a: “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ…”

The story is told that when Lawrence of Arabia came to Paris after World War II, he brought with him some Arab friends who had seen almost no modern technology before their visit. Lawrence sought to impress them with tours of the wonders of Paris, but the thing that

most interested them was the faucet in the hotel bathtub. They loved to turn it on and off, and giggled with delight at having all the water they wanted by simply turning a handle. When it came time to check out of the hotel, Lawrence found them in the bathroom, trying to wrestle the faucet out of the wall. When confronted, they said, “It is very dry in Arabia and we need one of these faucets.”

We know, of course, that what makes the faucet work is not the faucet, but the immense water system to which it was attached. But I wonder if we are like those Arabians some days. The Spirit gives us new birth, but we then take our faucet away from the source, Jesus.

Abraham and Sarah provide a graphic Biblical example of this behavior. God made a great promise to Abraham: through his family line all the families of the earth would be blessed. So all they needed was a son. But Abraham and his wife were old, and Sarah had been barren many years, so they could not imagine God doing this. Rather than wait and trust, therefore, they hatched a plan that seemed wise to them. Abraham would lie with a slave, producing an heir by her, even though it was not exactly what God wanted. The result was Ishmael, “a wild donkey of a man, whose hand is against everyone and everyone’s hand against him.” And the conflicts continue between the children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac.