Increase
Today’s Scripture Selection: First Thessalonians 3:12
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
Do you ever feel like you have just about reached your “tolerance level” for others?
Do you ever think that you are tapped out when it comes to your ability to
- Listen
- Care
- Understand
- Empathize
- Serve
- Show compassion
- Love
I imagine we all sometimes feel unable to respond to others as we should.
But that is when prayer can help.
Paul suggests this when he offers a prayer of sorts in one of his letters.
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.”
I like that.
He prayerfully asks for God to increase their love – and offers his own at the same time.
What a good model to follow – both when we are the ones feeling tapped out – or when we encounter one who is.
Prayer: Lord, increase our love, that we may be more reflective of your love. AMEN.
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By Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. “Elpis” is the Greek word for “expectant hope.” He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, and a member of Spiritual Directors International. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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