Think of some of the perfect combinations in life: Peanut butter and Jelly, summers at the beach, and Matt Damon in the Bourne movies. It’s almost as if they were made for each other and it’s hard to even fathom one without the other. The church has the perfect combination as well, love and holiness. When the body of Christ is abounding in these, it is an unstoppable force.
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Best Line of Defense
Paul’s prayers are some of the richest parts of the New Testament. You can peer into a person’s heart by listening to their prayers. He has a huge heart for the church and prayed for it continually. In this prayer, we see Paul praying for the Thessalonians to abound in love and to have holy hearts. With the church being attacked on so many levels, he knew that love and holiness were the traits that offered the best defense.
The Perfect Combination
Love and holiness is the perfect combination for the believer. Love is the outward expression of what God is doing in our hearts, and holiness is the inward transformation as we are made into Christ’s image. When we allow Jesus to do these works, true change happens in our lives. Love conquers selfishness and holiness overcomes temptation. Paul wants us to abound in love and grow in holiness. Imagine what the church would be like if that were happening in everyone?
Growing in Love & Holiness
Are you asking God to grow your love and holiness? We can’t manufacture these on our own. They are only produced as we surrender to Christ and obey His Word. As we do this, we will sense the leading of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. He will lead on how to love others and what to avoid. We won’t always get it right, but with continual practice, we will notice a change over time.