Paul is praying for God to be involved. Paul is frustrated. He wants to do something, and he can not get back there. So he is praying. He is sending this letter. But the one thing we can always do is set an example of love for others. He is an apostle, after all. He is their pastor. I am a pastor. We are elders, deacons, parents, friends—we are all involved in each other’s lives. And Paul says,
Oh, also, I am praying for this love to increase—love for one another and for all, as we do for you.One of the best things you can do as a church member—and I can do as a pastor—is (a) to pursue holiness, and (b) to really love one another. It does not mean that we are never going to have friction. We are often not good—but we are able to forgive each other, and we embrace each other, and we sacrifice, we live as a community. We cry together, we rejoice together. And under loving, godly leadership—by God’s power—a Christian community is to be a schoolhouse where we are learning from one another, and especially from God, how to love.Love is commanded. Love is to be modeled. Love is to be lived out in practice. We should just ask ourselves,
Richard D. PhillipsAre people seeing that in us?It is a question we should all ask:Are people learning how to love by watching me?Well, like Paul, we should pray that that would be more so. We have the capacity in Christ to love. Paul prays that it would be increased and strengthened so that it would abound.1
12 Et que le Seigneur fasse croître et abonder l'amour que vous avez les uns pour les autres, et pour tous, à l'exemple de celui que nous avons pour vous;