The ninth, tenth, and eleventh verses of Philippians is one one long request. It’s a bit complicated. But it is one of those string of verses in God’s Word that is full of meaty truth.
It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
It starts with Paul saying this is his prayer. Then it gives the topic, which is love, which Paul wants the Philippian church to abound more and more in. That’s the easy part. And we can grasp that part.
He moves next to say that their (and our) love should be with knowledge and all discernment. This is no small thing to grasp. We get the idea. But getting it into practice is work. It requires personal depth. And time. And practice. And intentionality. And prayer. And a lot of God’s word.
The rest of the verses fall logically and helpfully behind that. The hard part is loving with knowledge and discernment (of God’s will, truth, and wise and careful application).
The verses end with two supreme parts. First, love rightly done is a fruit of righteousness, which is from Christ. In other words, the doing of love and the gaining of knowledge and discernment come from Jesus. He helps. He leads. He supplies. Second, this is all to be to the glory and praise of God. Loving people well is not about us. We do it because we love God. Because He loved us first.
The Men's Bible Reading Idea 