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More and More
Less and Less
If the Lord had just finished putting away His monitoring and measuring device and was preparing to record my latest position today, would He note in His record that I am progressing according to schedule or regressing? Gaining altitude as a believer or descending? Is my spiritual pulse growing stronger or weaker? More focused on Christ or less? Participating more and more in spiritual activities and responsibilities or am I missing or absent more often?
The English phrase “more and more,” used by the Apostle Paul should speak to our hearts. Paul says:
“I pray that your love may abound yet
MORE and MORE
in knowledge and in all judgment.”
Philippians 1:9
Love that flourishes more and more! How is my love for Christ? Am I spending more and more time alone with Him or are the minutes on my knees actually less and less? Is it becoming more and more obvious that I love others or can people detect a growing critical spirit in me?
In 1Thessalonians 4:1 Paul talks about Christians walking as we ought to walk and pleasing God to abound more and more. How is my walk with the Lord? Am I pleasing God more and more or have I been pleasing myself more and more? Can God look at the choices I have made over the months of 2009 and record with pleasure: “There he goes again – another choice to please Me more and more?” A few verses later (1Thessalonians 4:10), Paul’s desire is that the Christians’ love for each other would abound more and more.
The phrase more and more does NOT suggest stagnation, plateauing, leveling-off, or balancing out. It expresses just the opposite. If I am pleasing Christ and daily honoring God more and more, I will not be stuck in a rut or shelved on a plateau. I’ll be gaining altitude. But honestly, if I am experiencing ‘less and less’ I’m in trouble. I am either gaining altitude or losing it. Moving forward or falling behind.
Proverbs 4:18 says: “The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” From the outset of a new day, the sunshine grows brighter and brighter until it reaches the full blaze of noonday. The witness of one Christian living for Christ grows stronger and brighter with each passing day.
Even as you sit at your computer just now, take 60 seconds of silence and honestly ask your heart: “Is the Lord seeing more and more or less and less in my life that pleases Him?”
“Lord help me this day to abound for You more and more.”
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ
Peter Ramsay