But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more… 1 Thessalonians 4.9, 10

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
“God Himself has undertaken to teach brotherly love; all that men can add to it is to remember this divine instruction and the admonition to excel in it more and more. When God was merciful, when He revealed Jesus Christ to us as our Brother, when He won our hearts by His love, this was the beginning of our instruction in divine love.”

Love is the mark of the Christian, as Jesus explained (Jn. 13.35). Practicing the love of Jesus, in a world filled with self-interest and myriad distractions, can be a real challenge. But if we remember this call to love one another, and work hard to increase and excel in it more and more, the Spirit of love will meet us and fill us and enable us to love with Jesus’ love, even when we don’t particularly feel like it. Loving when we don’t feel like it is evidence that Christ is loving through us. The love that makes for unity is not, in the first instance, an emotion. It’s a decision – to obey the Word of God in belief that this is the way of true life and oneness. As we increase in love, taking more actions of love toward our neighbors, God will generate within us the affections to match our action and sustain our love for the long term. So don’t wait to feel like loving your neighbor. Love him, then you’ll feel the Lord’s pleasure.

In your preaching and teaching, how do you try to help those you’re teaching to excel more and more in the love of Christ?

T. M. Moore

What does love look like?
If we are to aim at increasing in love for God and our neighbors, we need to know what love looks like as it acts according to the Word of God. Download the free PDF on loving God and neighbors, and use the worksheet to help you identify needed areas of growth (click here).

Mission Partners Outreach
Pastor, here’s a great resource to encourage the men in your church in their walk with and work for the Lord. This six-month, stay-at-home mission training regimen will get your men praying and reaching out to the people in their Personal Mission Field, and will provide a free resource for ongoing discipleship training in your church. Watch the brief video introducing this effort (click here), then download the brochure, find a man or two, and get started equipping the men of your church for mission.

Does the Lord want to use you to help support The Fellowship of Ailbe? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.