The Desire of the Hungry: Grow in Love
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which [are] by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)
Paul’s prayer helps us to ask the Father for power to grow in love for Jesus in two specific areas: through growing in the knowledge of what love is (by growing in understanding of the commands of Jesus) and growing in our understanding of what is loving (by growing in understanding of how to identify and embrace things that grow love best).
15“If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
The calling of every believer is to love Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). The deepest and most profound way we worship God from the core of our being is to encounter the truth of how He has loved us – He is the God who gave all to rescue and redeem us from sin – and, moved by the truth of His wholehearted love, desire to give Him all of our love. We respond to His “all” by giving our “all” – all of our thoughts, our desires, our emotions, and our gifting and talents – as our offering of love to Him.
Our response in love is connected to our revelation of love. Love “abounds” in our hearts when what God reveals to us about Jesus “abounds”. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:19) God revealing that to us by the power of His Holy Spirit awakens our understanding, changes our desires, stirs our emotions, and disrupts our time and talents. The more we grow in the knowledge of who Jesus is and how He loves us, the more we grow in real love and affection for Him.
Our understanding of what is “excellent”, or worthwhile – worthy of our time, our affections, and our attention – becomes transformed as we encounter the love and affections of Jesus. Love “reprioritizes” our lives and causes us to move from a life of sin-avoidance to a life of focused pursuit fueled by desire for God. As we experience and understand more and more of the love of Jesus, it creates a deep hunger to experience and understand the love of Jesus. Over time, things we used to love (that are of the world) we no longer care about, and the things we did not love (that are of God) become more pleasurable and enjoyable.
Two of the most powerful gifts God can give a young man or woman is hunger and desire for God and clear discernment regarding things that quench hunger and desire for God. As we say “yes” to God and the experience of His affections on our heart, we are also given the gift of hunger for more of Him. Along with the gift of hunger is the gift of discernment to perceive vanity and what has no value or worth to us as well as what truly matters, and has much worth as it relates to growing in love for Jesus.
The journey of “more love” runs alongside the journey of “more holiness”. Hunger for God draws the heart into a reach for His fullness that goes far beyond avoiding sin and into all manner of radical choices to leave behind anything that hinders our reach for the experience of “more”.