Philippians 1-4: Abound in Love

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. - Phil. 1:9-11 NIV

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. - Phil. 2:1-4 NIV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. - Phil. 3:8-9 NIV

There you have it.  What Christ called us to, and what Paul challenges us to is often a lot different than the faith we put in practice.  We're called to a higher calling:  to abound in love, to do nothing out of selfish motives, to not look to our own interests, to concentrate on what is right, pure and lovely.  A goal I fall far short of most of the time.  This time of year when the concentration is on what gifts we should give, perhaps we should hold ourselves to this standard.  Try giving love, giving of ourselves, abound in love.  The world might look at the church and it's celebrations differently if we demonstrated the love encompassed in the gift we have received.

2010 Post - Philippians 1-4:  In Chains for Christ