Paul wrote to the church that he was thankful for them, acknowledging their faith was growing and not just growing but growing abundantly. This faith had to be connected to the relationships they had because he says the love you have for each other is increasing. Somehow Paul was able to see or hear that these believers had stepped up a notch and their faith, working by their love for one another, was somehow manifesting in visible, viable actions.
W.E. Vines in his Expository Dictionary writes concerning the Greek word agape for love, that this God kind of love can only be seen in the action it prompts. In other words, you don’t know it’s love until it prompts actions for someone else. To top it off, this love, this agape love, or the love God has, is always sacrificial. It does not consider self in the equation of doings. It always does for the well being of another. i.e. God so loved that he gave his only begotten son. This God love does not give on the basis of what someone deserves, for while we were yet sinners, Christ died, nor does it give with expectation of return,
1 Timothy 4:1tells us the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.
In Matthew 24 Jesus tells us that the love of many will grow cold because lawlessness will increase in these last days.
John writes the letter to the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation with the charge, “you have left your first love”. I think we all know that the busier we get the potential diminishes for personal intimate times with our Father.
There are these three things in life that only flow and are strengthened by the Father through His Spirit and Word.; faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.
We need all three to have any kind of overcoming abundant life in this day. Hopeless people quit on life. Where there is no hope there is no vision. Where there is no sense of purpose in life, we cast off restraint. We do not engage in the purposes of the Kingdom and begin to conform to the circumstances around us. Without a vital connection to the Father, love is not nurtured and growing.
One thing is for sure- we all have room for our faith to grow abundantly and the love of God to increase in us and flow through us.