Abundant love

And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. – 2 Corinthians 2.3-4

Paul’s goal in his instruction, as he says above, it to he a helper in achieving the joy of their salvation. The last thing he wanted to do was to discourage them. Now we learn that his motive was the abundant love he had for them.

‘I wrote to you about my struggles and trials, not out of any kind of desire to have them feel sorry for him, but simply so they could know how much he loved them.

We need to remember that despite a relatively reliable postal service it was hard for people to know what was going on. Today we know every detail of what is going on in the lives of hundreds of friends, but it those days it was, at best, an occasional letter. Unless Paul told them they would have never known what he was going through on their behalf. The reason is not to show that he is some kind of martyr but to show them how far their love should go for others.

In other words, what does the love of Christ motivate us to do for the cause of Christ and for each other?