Love's Guard

Philippians 1:9-10

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

With everything that God gives the believer, He also warns that the tools He provides to help others can become a weakness in their own life. Love is one of those great tools that God wants believers to have, because it helps you make a difference in the lives of others. Love will cause you to live your life trying to reach the lost and to meet the needs of others.

However, love has also caused many people to make bad decisions. You can love someone so much that you allow every decision you make to be based on love and not on all of the Scriptures. I have often said that we must be careful about making decisions with our heart and not with our head. However, if you join your heart and your head together, you can make a decision in love that is based on the Word of God.

Paul addressed this issue in the verses above. He mentioned that he wanted their love to abound. Of course, the word abound means to flow over. Our love ought to flow over on others. In fact, true love will never be placed on self, but it will always flow over to others. A person who has true love in their life will allow God's love to flow through them to reach the lost, restore the fallen, and meet the needs of others. However, there are some guards. God gives us to make sure that love does not become our weakness. Let me share two guards God gives us concerning love.

First, we are to love according to knowledge. Loving someone according to knowledge means to use God’s Word as a guide in decision-making. I cannot do something for others that would cause me to disobey God’s Word. For instance, true love does not compromise truth to show your love. I can love the souls of mankind, but I must not compromise truth to reach the souls of mankind. Paul made the mistake of taking a Jewish vow based on his love for the Jews to be saved. He made a decision on love without knowledge, and that decision led to his incarceration, and I believe minimized God's ability to do through him what He wanted to do. Be careful that you always base your love on the knowledge of God's Word. If what you want to do because of your love would cause you to disobey God's Word, then you must obey God's Word. True love is always obedient to God's Word first.

Second, we are to love according to judgment. Judgment hears both sides of the story. A mistake many parents make is to think their children never do wrong. When their child comes to them with a situation, instead of hearing the other side of the story, they immediately make a decision based on their love for their child. What these parents don't understand is that by not hearing the other side of the story, they accuse others or a school of hurting their child and demand an apology. Had this parent made a decision based on judgment, their love would have heard the other side of the story before demanding others to apologize to their child. True love always hears both sides of the story before it makes a determination on what needs to be done. You will do yourself much good by not allowing love to make a decision without judgment. Decisions based on knowledge, judgment, and love will keep you from heartache and embarrassment down the road.