"...not sentimental gush."

When I graduated high school, my church gave me The Message as a graduation gift. I have to admit that every once in a while I will look up verses in it to get a different wording or perspective, but I haven’t spent a lot of time studying it. (I think it has something to do with the verses not being numbered… I’m an accountant and I like my numbers. Don’t get me wrong… I do study my Bible, I just use my NIV.) Anyway, I decided a few weeks ago to pull The Message off of the shelf and I went to Philippians because it is probably my favorite book of the Bible. Listen to how The Message translates Philippians 1:9-11 –

9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

WOW. If that doesn’t get you fired up, maybe you should go back to bed and start your day over again.

Paul is praying for the people he loves in this passage, and he is praying that they will love well, love appropriately, love sincerely, and love intelligently. Doesn’t this get you thinking? Love is an ACTION. Paul even says that our love should not be “sentimental gush.”

But what does that mean? If I tell you “I love you” is that it? If I say it intelligently and sincerely, then I am doing what Paul prayed for? Maybe sometimes that’s it.

A very smart man (Coach Mike Hollis) defines love this way – giving someone the best needed thing. I think that lines up with what Paul prayed. It’s important to remember that how we love will not always look the same. The way that I love will depend on the person and the situation… it’s not the same for everyone. I may love my Mom by doing dishes for her, and I may love my brother by cheering at his basketball games. I may love my sister by going shopping with her, while I may love my Dad by watching a movie with him. Sometimes, though, it is as simple as telling someone that you love them.

How do the people in your life love you? Think about it for a minute, and it might just rock your world. I have people who love me by praying for me (how can you show your love better than THAT?), by giving me hugs, by inviting me over, by letting me by myself with them… the list goes on and on.

Think about how you’ve loved or been loved just this week! I’ve had family friends watch my dog so that I could go to Rockin Summer Nights all week – that’s how they loved me this week. Last night we had parents volunteer to drive students around for our scavenger hunt – that’s a lot of loving on our students!

Did you notice the bottom line of Paul’s prayer, though? The glory and praise of God. That’s why we love –when we love, we’re trying to show GOD’s love. We’re trying to get other people involved in the glory and praise of God. Isn’t that amazing? Get other people involved in praising God. When we’re excited about something, we typically want other people excited about it too, right? Say you saw an awesome movie… what do you do? You facebook about it, twitter about it, tell all your friends so they can enjoy it too, right? You want everyone involved.

So let’s love much and love well. Let’s get everyone involved in praising God. Let’s love them in a way gives glory to God.